Built For Sin - Too Much, Not Enough
by Phenobarbital
Summary: There'd been so many feelings, thoughts and emotions Edward had had to learn to associate with Alphonse, old and new, but the one that seized his chest painfully right then, that made his top lip twitch and curl up in barely restrained anger, was the virile, sharp, stabbing realization of betrayal.
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer - I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist Anime or the lyrics used.**_

 _ **It has been a VERY long time since I have been here with this fanfic, and I'd like to welcome back any old readers and also welcome new readers to his particular tale of the Elric Brothers. If you've been along for this ride since the beginning or if you've newly joined, then you'll know exactly what you're in for here, this story is a warning all on it's own! Before we begin please know that I appreciate every review, good or bad, (and anything else you may share) even if I don't always say so. This story has been a long WIP from the original BFS through to now and if you've stuck around for all the drama and pain then thank you!**_

 _ **We pick up where it ended more or less in Twisted Halos. You know where they were headed...well, they've arrived. The format remains unchanged, swapping between Ed and Al's POVs per chapter and the plot continues be one very angsty ride! So, good luck and I hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **\- The uncensored version can be found on my AO3 profile, as well as a new link for Ed and Al's apartment.**_

 _ **\- I will be going back through the previous parts to replace any images that are not working and change any redundant notes.**_  
 _ **\- I apologize for any mistakes, this is not beta-read**_  
 _ **\- As per the usual, sensitive readers please tread lightly**_  
 _ **\- Song lyrics in this chapter belong to Meg Myers**_  
 _ **\- Censored version uploaded on FF dot net (if anyone still goes there?)**_

* * *

 **Present**

* * *

 _I got to know that your heart beats fast and_  
 _I got to know I'm the only one for you_

* * *

Alphonse was breathing deeply.

Edward was kissing down his chest softly, slowly…wetly, and it felt good, it always did.

Ed's lips were warm, soft, moist and just slightly swollen from their extended session of kissing just minutes earlier. His hands were also warm, slightly rough as they alternatively pressed, groped and caressed over Alphonse's naked sides and down over his narrow hips, which he raised slightly as he pressed up into the curve of Ed's throat the lower the older blonde kissed over his torso.

Alphonse closed his eyes, spread his already parted legs further and clenched his hands –one into the silk yellow throw cushion at the side of his head and the other in Ed's loosely braided hair- when his older brother's hot mouth found him and he dragged his open mouth over the sensitive smooth wet skin. Ed's tongue followed his parted lips as he took his mouth down, not sucking, not even kissing, but teasing Al so badly, Al was breathing loudly and feeling desperate for more.

He didn't know if Edward liked him when he was like that, restless and needy, but he'd long since stopped holding back on his sensitive, emotional reactions during sex, because there was nothing so intense and fulfilling as making love to Edward. He'd come to learn that the older man had quite a good amount of experience and while it never failed to make Alphonse a bit more than a little jealous of Ed's previous lovers, it also never failed to gratify him that no one would ever have Edward again, no one besides himself.

He moaned and pressed his head back into the wealth of silk, feather cushions that lined the high set, four poster double bed that was for his use as a guest in the Xingese Emperor's Palace. Edward's one hand had run down the side of his thigh now and the older blonde continued, taking sensitive skin into his mouth while his other hand loosely and slowly stroked.

It was maddening…and felt incredible.

He wished very badly, he was actually chanting it in his pleasure hazed mind that Edward would go lower, he had his legs spread wide enough that he was fully exposed and it would be easy for Ed to do to him what the older blonde had yet to ever do. Alphonse had read about and fantasized many things that had never yet happened between them and thinking about it made him tremble in pleasure…

…but after a few more moments the warmth of Ed's mouth was removed and Edward's hand started to work Al in earnest as the older blonde drew up, settling on one elbow at the side of Al's hip and pressing benign kisses to Alphonse's quivering stomach as his hand moved steadily, palm damp and thumb pressing and rubbing.

Alphonse was so hot and pleasantly distant it took him a few seconds to realize what Ed was doing and he opened his eyes quickly, half lidded and he frowned as his hips jerked up into Ed's determined rhythm.

"…hah…Ed…, ah…wa...wait…" he breathed out, but it was too late, he exhaled softly in several short huffs as his pelvis and lower stomach bloomed with tingles and pleasure, he raised his hips in a quick jerky movement as he finished quickly and without being able to help it.

As Edward had no doubt planned, since he'd even had the preemptive sense to move his face out of the way before Alphonse finished to avoid his face and hair getting messed.

Edward didn't remove his touch immediately, still stroking tightly upward, allowing the pleasure to linger as long as it could, as if he were being thoughtful, when really, the entirety of what Al had hopefully assumed to be foreplay, was just Ed's way of working him up to a quick end, without actual penetrative sex.

Alphonse swallowed slowly a few times, unclenching his fingers and raising his damp, warm hands to run them through his equally damp hair, because shit, Xing was hot, day or night and the humidity made him feel so lethargic, especially after his hot bath and an excellent –if rushed- finish. When he felt Edward finally remove his hand and the bed shifted beside him, he didn't open his eyes, he felt Edward's chest press to his arm and he turned his head to kiss the older blonde when he felt soft breath tickle over the hot skin of his cheek.

He was disappointed at the abrupt ending to their activities, but he wasn't upset, nor would he argue with Ed about it again like he had two days ago when they first entered into Xing's borders. Al turned on to his side after a moment of closed mouth kissing, pressing into Ed so they were almost chest to chest. He sought a deeper kiss and Edward responded, opening his mouth along with Alphonse and kissing the younger blonde slowly, exhaling through his nose about the same time Alphonse inhaled. He found even the smell of Ed's dusty, sweaty skin appealing, and curled his fingers into the base of Ed's braid as he maneuvered his other hand between them so he could cup Ed through his pants, squeezing lightly.

Edward pressed into his hand and made a quiet humming sound as he drew the kiss to a close, finishing with a soft smacking sound and licking his reddened lips, eyes half lidded and a small smile on his face, Alphonse stomach did a pleasant flutter and he couldn't help stealing one more warm, lip to lip kiss, because he knew what was coming next.

"Don't worry about me, Al." Ed said quietly as he rested his right wrist on the side of Al's naked waist, his messed right hand not touching Alphonse, and he propped his head up on his other hand, his elbow pushing into one of the large soft pillows above their heads.

Alphonse sighed through his noise as he dragged his short fingernails out of Ed's hair and down over his neck in a light tickle, moving slowly over his shoulder and then ran his hand over Ed's upper arm, his gaze followed it sleepily,

"It wouldn't take long…" he offered quietly, glancing up into Ed's face, even though he expected to be declined.

Edward smiled and it was genuine, Alphonse knew there was no pretense,

"Nah, it's okay, I told Ling I'd meet him in the Imperial Garden after I cleaned up and the servant people showed me to my room, you gonna join us?" Ed had a certain displeased tone when he said the word servant,

"No thanks…I'm too tired, especially now." Al smiled slightly and Ed did too and then he sighed,

"I figured you'd say that. Anyway…I said I'd be about a half hour, it's been about that long already and I still have to go to my room and wash the fucking dust off my face and then find the god damned Imperial Garden and then find Ling at the Auspicious Pavilion…" he sighed again.

Al continued to smile before he kissed the underside of Ed's jaw and licked his lips,

"You do taste salty…" he laughed quietly, lazily.

And then Ed moved away, rolling onto his back and then his opposite side and sliding over the silk textured sheets to throw his legs over the side of the bed. Alphonse smiled as he snuggled into the pillows and as he watched Ed through the opening in the elaborate, heavy and intricately patterned bed curtains, he wondered why Ed hadn't just said he was too tired from the trip and wanted to get some sleep when Ling invited him to the Imperial Garden,

"The Imperial Garden is behind this building, Ed, we're in the Emperor's residential palace." he said quietly, reaching out and touching his finger tips to Ed's naked lower back, "And it's called the Pavilion of Auspicious Clarity, or in Xingese, _Chengruiting_ , it's on the far back and left of the garden, over the pond." he blinked lazily and Ed muttered 'yeah, yeah…whatever, thanks' under his breath.

Edward reached back and squeezed his hand gently before standing up and glancing to the bottom of the bed for his white long sleeved shirt he'd worn for the final leg of their journey that day along with his loose fitting, tan coloured nylon cargo style pants. Alphonse watched him pull his shirt on, thinking of how strange it was to see Ed in such light coloured clothing, and then Ed pulled the elastic band off the end of his long braid and ran his hands through it to loosen it before pulling his hair up into a pony tail; now that the trip was over, the braid was no longer necessary.

"This place is pretty over kill, huh?" Ed glanced at him with a half way impressed, half way bored look and then turned his gaze back to looking around the room. Alphonse looked around as well as much as he could without changing the position in which he was lying,

"I think it's beautiful, the architecture, the lavish layout, the colours…I love it here..." he trailed off, eyes looking over the solid walls painted a rich blue over the solid wood finish, the high carved out ceiling, with lamp like chandeliers extended from it and tapestries decorating the high ends of the walls. The floors were a shiny black colour and in one corner of the rectangular room was a large cauldron-like pot and Alphonse had often wondered what was inside of it or if it was just for some decoration. There was still more to learn about Xing, he'd missed the intricacies, he'd missed the incense, so relaxing, and the atmosphere of peace.

"Yeah, it's alright." Ed agreed as he ran his hand over his ponytail and sat down on the bed to pull his boots on,

"Can you come back to my room when you're done?" Alphonse asked quietly as Ed stood up again, the older blonde turned to face him and walked closer, he leaned over, resting on his elbows as he stretched to reach Al where he lay in the middle of the bed and they shared a kiss, then Ed pulled back and stood up,

"I can't Al, we talked about this, we have to be discreet wherever we're staying in Xing, especially here."

Alphonse half rolled his eyes and rolled onto his front, chin resting on his arms as he stared at the intricately carved wooden headboard built into the wall,

"Does that mean we're going to spend the entire vacation abstaining, even after we leave the palace?" he asked quietly, but he knew Ed could hear him because while the palace and its imperial city were massive, so massive, it was also so quiet. Their vacation was planned that they'd stay at the palace, where Ling had welcomed them to after Al had written him during the planning phase of the vacation and he'd written back, and after spending some time there they'd head further east, toward the _ocean_.

"Not necessarily, we'll see what accommodations are like the further we head in, you know, smaller, less populated areas." Ed was saying,

"No one knows us by face in Xing, Ed, they're not going to recognize us." he said tiredly and sighed.

"Like I said, we'll see, but here in the palace we have to be careful." then there were boot scuffs and he knew Ed was leaving, "See you in the morning, Al." Ed said quietly before the heavy door was opened and seconds later, closed again.

With a sigh, Alphonse rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

Things between himself and Ed had been great, really great, in the days leading up to their vacation, after they'd resolved their final issues, things were smoothing themselves out nicely. Alphonse had taken a sabbatical from university since what he lost in attendance he could make up for in reading to catch up, and he'd organized for Gracia to take CookieBoots while they were gone, which Elysia was thrilled about. And Ed had plenty of free time and had been paid out a nice amount of Cenz, so they'd bought supplies, such as durable but cool clothing, hiking boots, knapsacks and such, since part of the journeys would be hot and that would be awful in ordinary clothes.

When the day to leave had come they'd headed out and it had been fun travelling on trains again, talking, watching Ed manage to sleep somehow when Alphonse's butt got sore from the hard wooden seats, yet another thing Ed had acclimated to in their years of questing that he wasn't used to. It was once they'd reached their first overnight stay in one of the smaller towns inside of Xing's borders, that Ed had started to talk about discretion. He'd booked one room but always two beds which made perfect sense but he started making excuses about being too tired or talking about thin hotel walls. So Alphonse promised to be quiet and for the first two overnight stays inside of Xing Alphonse managed, with some effort, to get Ed so frustratingly hard from making out or feeling him up that they'd ended up sleeping together, but once they crossed the first part of the desert and ended up staying in a small densely populated village and someone recognized Edward, no extent of hard on was enough to get Ed out of his pants.

From there it'd been hand jobs or nothing, so Al had, until that present point, opted for nothing.

Alphonse couldn't deny that hotel sex had been good, he was keen to keep trying new stuff, but with Ed completely shut down and nervous about people discovering them in some way, no matter how unlikely, his resolve was unbreakable, it was actually impressive how well Ed dealt with unresolved erections.

The oral Al had received a few minutes earlier had been the first in a weeklong trip and only for him to find that the discretion act was still in place, as long as they were in the palace especially. He didn't want to leave the palace too soon, they were welcome for however long they liked, Ling had said, so they'd planned for five days which would give them time to see the massive Imperial City and for Al to possibly see Mei, despite being hesitant about that part.

 _'_ _Five days…'_ he thought sleepily and found that it didn't bother him so much, he'd have plenty to fill his time with and having gone weeks without intimacy between himself and Edward for a longer period just a few weeks before, it really wasn't a big deal anymore, because things were good, no, **great** , so a little abstinence would be manageable.

He also didn't care to fight about it…or for it, he and Ed didn't really fight anymore.

And aside from that, Al had something important he wanted to tell Ed, something he'd learned about Xing a while before he'd returned back to Amestris while researching other things. It was _important_ but he didn't want to get his hopes up for a good reaction from Ed, since he worried the whole vacation might seem like some kind of manipulative set up when he finally decided to tell the older blonde what he'd learned.

There was a reason after all, why he'd been planning a couple's getaway to Xing in the first place…

With a sigh and one last distant glance around the beautiful room, Alphonse settled down to sleep, his eyes focused on one of the fire lamps hanging from the ceiling, his mind on the emptiness in his chest and the quiet of the room around him, until he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 ** _And here we go..._**


	2. One

**Disclaimer - I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist Anime or the lyrics used.**

 **\- A new link for Ed and Al's apartment can be found on the AO3 upload.**  
 **\- I've gone back through the previous parts to replace any images that are not working and change any redundant notes.**

 **-Translation for Chinese can be found at the end of the chapter**  
 **\- I apologize for any mistakes, this is not beta-read**  
 **\- As per the usual, sensitive readers please tread lightly**  
 **\- Song lyrics in this chapter belong to Black Lab**

* * *

 _I turn, I smile - hello, goodbye_  
 _The world goes by in a dream_

* * *

Edward couldn't deny the city was incredible.

Then of course, his opinion changed to annoyed and incredulous when he found out that the entire city belonged to the Emperor, and not 'belonged' in the sense where it was the capital of the country and so he resided within the city and oversaw it directly, but it actually _belonged_ to Ling. As in, it was like his house…except as big as a small city. Only the Emperor, along with his eventual Empress -whoever she might eventually turn out to be- the royal family, his servants, council, concubines, guards and _eunuchs_ –Al needed to explain that to him sometime- were allowed to inhabit the city, and really, there weren't _that_ many of them to have to live in an entire city.

Alphonse had told him some things about the city and about the palace since he'd been there before, so he answered whenever Ed asked a question. He'd asked where Mei was, wondering what Al's reaction to talking about his ex-girlfriend/fling would be, and Al had explained with barely more than a blink that Mei's village, where the Chang clan resided was somewhere around the main city, not nearby, but in the surrounding mountainous, lush and stunning, largely infrastructure-less Xingese land. The surrounding village people were not allowed inside the city walls without invitation apparently, walls which were high and made of thick stone and surrounded on the outside by a damned _mote_ of water; just to show off a little more, Ed figured.

The only time people from the country were allowed inside the city was during coronations or ceremonies and even then, apparently they were only allowed in the outer court of the city to enjoy the celebrations.

Ed supposed he should feel honored to be a guest of the Emperor himself, being allowed into the inner courts and to be sleeping in Ling's personal palace, where only Ling's immediate family resided along with him, apparently even his future selection of wife would have a separate palace to live in.

It was all very extravagant and annoyingly complicated, but Ed wouldn't deny the scenery was beautiful, the architecture was amazing with the high walls, wide roofs and stunning symmetry to it all and everything seemed to symbolize something important to the culture and beliefs of Xingese people, nothing appeared as generic as it did back in Amestris' Central City.

They'd arrived at the main city just a few hours earlier, and after a further half hour just entering the city's outer court, they'd finally arrived at the first massive hall. They'd walked through a 'gate', which was two massive wooden doors built into a thick, high stone wall and then proceeded to walk through a huge open concrete path and grass-laid yard lined with armor clad guards holding the country's colour banners with dragons on the windblown fabric. The flags were set on tall staffs, lining the path to a high reaching staircase, which had large dragon statues decorating its banisters half way up. Ling had been waiting inside the hall with more guards, a few servants and elder council people all dressed in different colours and robes at the sides of the throne and they'd all bowed in unison when Ed and Al reached their designated place in all the fuss of the grandiose welcome. Ling himself sat atop the elaborate gold, black and red throne which was on a high dais at the top of the stairs, the throne seat was long enough to be a couch or a bed honestly and was only one of many in the large black tiled throne room lined with pillars and patterned with dragons in the stone.

Ed had done his best to keep the annoyed look off his face at how over the top it all was.

Ling looked weird because his hair had been tied back from his face, making him look older, severe and even more shady and devious with his squinty eyes and no smile on his face. And on top of his head had been what Ed assumed was a crown, it looked like a graduation hat, except it was gold, tasseled and had a rectangular top. To make it worse, he was wearing a heavy looking yellow and black long robe –dress or skirt maybe- of some sort, similar to what Mei had worn during the time she'd been in Amestris but somehow more masculine. It was layered over a few other robes and it seemed all wrapped around him. Aside from his bedroom-looking robe, he'd had black pants on underneath it, from what Ed could see beneath the long, shiny intricately patterned material, and with the entire ensemble he wore flat yellow and black shoes like the ones he'd always worn, except newer and with patterns in the fabric.

There'd been cushions laid out at an even distance from each other, exactly two, at the top of the first set of steps leading up to the actual throne dais and when they reached them, Ed followed Alphonse and the direction of two women with stupid hats on –or boys, he couldn't tell since their faces were painted like dolls and the robes were long and puffy hiding any telling attributes- to kneel on the cushions, with one hand on the floor and the other curled into their laps and then to bow…low.

That pissed Ed off, he honestly felt like Ling was probably making them do all of this just to be a pain in the ass, but the childish side of him no longer rebelled, and being as Ling was a friend and the Emperor, like Ed would grudgingly give Mustang his respect as a good man and leader, he felt the same way towards Ling.

Even though he had smacked Ling upside his head a half an hour later, the very second they were done with all the formalities and it had just been the three of them and a few guards.

Alphonse had smacked him after he smacked Ling – a lot less hard than he could have mind you-, with a scolding hiss of the word 'brother' and the guards had all looked like they wanted to come at him. But then when Lan Fan hadn't reacted, only smiling, and Ling had grabbed Ed's shoulders and announced how much he'd missed Ed's short temper, everyone had calmed down.

While they'd been kneeling after their arrival, one of the men standing nearer to the bottom of the main throne steps had started speaking really loudly in Xingese, announcing something to them and Ed had realised he was lucky he'd learned some basic Xingese or he would have been lost.

Ed picked up most of the words and puzzled out what the guy had announced,

 _'_ _His gracious and invincible majesty, the blessed and eternal Emperor, would like to welcome his honored and esteemed foreign guests.'_

At that point everyone else had bowed as well, all getting down on one knee and Ling stood up, posture perfect to keep his stupid crown on no doubt, and he made a subtle gesture with a hand from somewhere under his massive sleeves and everyone stood up again. Two of the nearer guys to Ed and Al, all strategically positioned, came forward and gestured for them to stand up as well, so they did and Ed did as Al did next, stepping to the side of the cushion and at this point Ling began to descend the stairs, coming toward them, still without a smile on his face.

When he was standing before them a little ways he reached up and very neatly took the crown off his head, he turned slowly and handed it to one of the men who bowed and waited until it was placed upon the cushion in his hands before stepping back with another bow. Then Ling turned back and looked at Ed, who blinked and glanced at Al, wondering what was supposed to happen next. But apparently it wasn't his 'turn' to do anything formal, because Ling had broken out in an infectiously fond grin and raised his arms and big sleeves, stepping forward and wrapping Ed in a hug with his arms around Ed's neck.

The older blonde was momentarily stunned, not just by the hug –damn guy had no respect for personal space- but also by the fact that Ling was the same height as him, if not just an inch _shorter_. Fucking **excellent**. Belatedly he raised his arms and patted Ling's back twice just before the young Emperor pulled back just enough to look Ed in the face,

"It's good to see you, Ed, it has been too many years my friend." he said with so much sincerity Ed couldn't help smiling back at him, a genuine smile and up that close he was able to see the dark brown of Ling's eyes for the first time,

"Yeah, yeah…enough with the hugging already." he mumbled and then he and Ling patted each other a final time and separated. Then Ling turned to Alphonse whose own smile spread across his face when Ling stepped up to him and wrapped him in an equally tight neck hug,

"Alphonse! You look well, about the same as the last time I saw you…" he pulled back, "…maybe a little skinnier." he added but continued to grin, "But not to worry, I've had a feast of Elric brother proportions prepared for you both!" he'd turned and held both of their shoulders, a hand on each.

Ed had smirked,

"You eat more than both of us combined, Ling." he reminded and Ling grinned,

"Of course, I've had my own feast prepared separately."

"You did that last time as well." Alphonse added with a small laugh,

"And my judgment was correct, Al eats as much as I remember you did-…" he pointed at Ed, "…which is why it's surprising you've lost weight." he turned a slightly concerned gaze on Al.

Edward had glanced at Al and the younger blonde just shrugged,

"I've been a bit ill, but I'm much better now." he reassured with his million cenz smile and Edward was once again impressed at his little brother's ability to appear sincere when telling a half lie.

From there they'd all headed further into the large main hall, then making their way out and through some corridors and out through a second massive gate and wall and through another wide open concrete yard. All the while he and Al trailed either side of Ling while the rest of the crowd followed and slowly thinned out. Once they'd reached the Emperor's residential palace – **finally** -, it was no longer a crowd, just Al, Ling, Lan Fan, himself and three other masked guards.

At that point, Ed had smacked Ling upside his head and asked just what the hell all of the formal crap had been about. Ling had exclaimed how much he had missed Ed's temper and then added how amazed he was that Ed had grown so much. Ed had nearly smacked him again, grumbling about whether Ling thought he'd be a shrimp forever, but Al had laughed and waved the moment off, along with Ling. Ling had then offered them a bath before eating, apparently it was a custom, but when Ed declined, saying he was too hungry, Al looked a bit unsure of what to do since it was the way things were done. Ling however didn't seem bothered and he led them along to where the food was.

They'd eaten soon after, being walked from the second throne room –seriously, why have more than one throne?- through an antechamber and into another large room where there'd been a square low table decked out with bowls and dishes of food and with only three low cushioned wooden chairs set out.

They'd eaten with little talking, Ed and Al were hungry from their trip and since the spread was so varied from savory to sweet, many assorted juicy meat dishes, the same with noodles, breads and buns, pastries, cream cakes, little fried cakes, rice dishes, raw fish dishes –which Ed hedged around but eventually tried at Al and Ling's insistence- dumplings, stews, curries, vegetables, fruits and so much more. The list of beverages wasn't as long or as tasty though, it seemed tea and a few variations of it were the main thing Xingese people drank during dinner.

It was halfway through eating that Al had excused himself from their company and said he was going to take a bath, leaving Ed alone with Ling to catch up and they talked mostly about what had changed in Xing and Amestris since the Promised Day. Afterward, Ling had invited them out to the Imperial Garden for drinks, Ed said he'd go and ask Al on his way to getting shown to his own room, but he'd had a feeling the younger blonde would decline in favor of sleep. Ed agreed to join Ling after he'd been to his designated room and had at least washed his face after the long day of travelling. He'd asked Ling to give him a half hour and the young Emperor agreed easily and told a servant to show Ed to his room, apparently their luggage was already in their respective rooms.

Ed had walked with the single quiet servant shuffling just slightly ahead of him until they'd reached Ed's room, then Ed asked the man to show him to Alphonse's room. As it turned out they weren't very close to each other, but after knocking on the door, to conserve appearances of brotherly privacy, Al answered, telling him to enter and after doing so, Ed asked him why they weren't just side by side in rooms. Al explained that they'd both been given second floor large rooms so they couldn't have been placed side by side.

Of course, Ed supposed he should have suspected that he couldn't just pop in to Al's room, pass on the message and just leave, so he wasn't all that surprised when Al had pulled him onto the bed and started kissing him.

Ed went along with it, Al smelled really good, having had a bath with some kind of soaps that smelled divine, and he almost felt bad since he wasn't clean himself. However minutes later he was half naked with a very naked Alphonse, who was unperturbed by Ed's day long sweated skin and dusty hair, but Ed was uncomfortable about doing what they were doing in Ling's home as well as in his current state of hygiene. So he went straight for the finish to appease Al's insatiable –yet understandable for his age coupled with a near mint body- libido. And one very skilled blow job slash hand job later -and another successful evasion of actual sex-, Ed was slipping out of Al's room and letting out his tension in a deep sigh as he ran his hand over his mouth and started walking back the way he'd come to Al's room.

Edward slipped into his own room, glanced around to familiarize himself with the slightly different layout to Al's, it was more or less exactly the same, except the colour scheme was different, the room was square and his bed was set against the wall leaving only one curtained side open for climbing onto the high bed. He immediately pulled his shirt off again and walked over to the small bowl of clean water set on a stone slab with a small hand towel folded neatly beside it, he'd seen one like it in Al's room as well.

Alphonse had explained before they'd arrived at the palace that bathing was done in the bathhouse, there was more than one in the palace, different ones for the staff –aka servants, ugh- and for guests and for the Emperor, but only Ling's bath was private, the rest were communal. Needless to say that made Ed less than enthusiastic about taking a bath, so he figured he'd just ask Al to clean him off with alchemy liked he'd used to do back in their questing days when they were between towns and had no access to water, although the idea of going a week without a hot bath was a very unpleasant thought.

He dipped his cupped hands into the lukewarm water and brought it up to rinse his face, rubbing away the days sweat from his face and neck after a few more handfuls, wondering how hot the water must have been prepared for them if it was still cooling down, but he supposed the hot, humid weather of Xing helped. When he was done he lifted up the fresh towel, which was still warm too and it smelled really nice, and he wiped his face and neck off and then his water streaked forearms.

When he was done he pulled his shirt back on, again thinking of how much he'd like a hot bath while not liking the idea of _sharing_ with strangers. A communal shower was one thing, a bath was another entirely. Ed then headed back out, leaving his luggage packed and the strange white, black lined robes with green fire and dragon symbols patterned on it, hanging up in the room on large formless mannequin like wood beams. They'd been in Al's room too, a rich blue, black lining and with yellow patterns of nature. They were both awful but Ed wondered why he got stuck with white.

Not that he intended to wear it, but still.

He made his way back to the throne room and glanced around, the massive room was empty but the candles were all still lit and so were the fire pots. Ed continued looking around and managed to spot someone shuffling along, their feet and hands were hardly visible under the black and blue robes,

"Uh, hey!" he called out as he started in a quick jog toward the girl –or boy- who looked startled for a second when the sound echoed slightly, but they stopped walking and waited.

When Ed reached them they bowed with their hands hidden in their sleeves and Ed bowed as well, since it seemed like the thing to do. After the bowing the girl/boy blinked their slanted eyes and inclined their head, Ed assumed in question of what he needed them for. Edward looked over the painted face for a second, even at close range unable to figure out what the gender was because while they wore lipstick painted in a kissing shape over the center of their lips and a lot of white face powder, the facial features weren't necessarily feminine or masculine and the hair being long and in a bun didn't help, they were completely androgynous.

"I'm looking for Li- uh…the Emperor, he said I should meet him in the Imperial Garden…" he quickly remembered what Al had called the pavilion, "…chengruiting?" he said with an uncertain smile.

He was relieved when the girl/boy nodded, did something with their painted mouth that might have been a smile and then started to shuffle away after gesturing with their head for Ed to follow.

The walk was long, through some corridors and outside, where the sky was stunning and starry, clear without any extreme light pollution and the air outside was cooler than in the palace. They descended many stairs, walked on a path lined with deep water ponds in which Ed could see fish and lily pads and eventually they walked through a short maze of low balustrades until they finally arrived at a free standing entrance way with an elaborate arch.

Ed had hoped that was it but then they walked through a stunning garden with so many types of trees, flowers and plants Ed hadn't ever seen and a large pond that they walked alongside and even over as they followed the wooden walkways and roofed corridors. Ed could hear crickets and see moths flying around the sealed lamps lining the walk was so silent and so fresh and it was lovely, really, he understood now why Alphonse loved it there.

After a good ten minutes of medium brisk walking, they finally reached an elaborate and complicatedly designed pavilion with an arching and high roof, the walls were red outside and the detail was so fine that in the dark Ed really couldn't make all of it out, even with the firelight at each end of the top of the stone steps leading to the entrance. He was still glancing around as they ascended and then finally walked inside. Ed had missed the girl/boy bowing to Ling and belatedly bowed when the girl/boy did the same to him and then left.

"It certainly took you a while to get here, did you get lost?" Ling asked with a smile where he sat in the nicely sized room surrounded by even fire lighting, he was sat cross-legged on a cushion at a low square table laid out with snacks and bottles of what Ed assumed were the 'drinks' Ling had referred to, meaning alcohol.

Edward glanced around again, finding they were alone, although he guessed Lan Fan was probably around somewhere, but he could speak plainly all the same,

"Shouldn't surprise you, this place is fucking massive." he griped and walked over, sitting himself on a cushion adjacent to Ling, one leg crossed underneath himself and the other straight out, "Everything is so far away from everything else too." he rubbed at his stiff neck.

"Stop complaining Ed, you're used to conditions far worse than having to walk a short distance." Ling said calmly, he almost seemed more reserved somehow. He was still wearing his yellow robes and his hair was still tied back, Ed didn't like it, he wanted the annoying Ling back,

"Don't talk all Emperor like to me, it's irritating." he set his chin in his palm and stared at Ling, unimpressed.

The other man smiled and then seemed to relax,

"Yeah, it is exhausting and tedious but I've gotten quite used to it." he admitted as he reached for one of the small glass bowl like cups before lifting two of the alcohol bottles, one with a bulbous bottom and the other long and slender and he smiled at Ed,

"Baijiu or putaojiu?"

Edward smirked, he recognized one of the two Xingese words,

"Not the grape wine, what's the other one?"

Ling pouted,

"Aw Ed, you didn't even take the time to use that big brain of yours to learn my native language, I'm hurt." he whined and set the slender bottle down,

"I learned _some_ of it." he defended lazily and Ling just shook his head,

"After all the trouble I went through to learn your complicated language with its awful vernacular, even now I speak it with you." he raised the bulbous bottle, "Baijiu is a white spirit, better?"

Ed nodded, thinking Ling really had a good grasp on his language to use words like 'vernacular', and he watched as Ling poured the clear liquid into his bowl cup,

"Firstly, you were in Amestris illegally, it was for your own damn good that you were able to speak my language, when it _suited_ you…" he sent a half-hearted accusing glare at Ling who tried to look innocent, "…and secondly, **your** language's vernacular is awful…and so are the clothes." he said as he took the cup from Ling, giving the man's robes a look over.

He took note that there was a band or sash of some sort around Ling's middle, and the entire get up made him look fat,

"There you go, insulting my culture again, Edward," he did his best to glare back, "so close minded, besides, this is comfortable."  
"Can't be."

"It is."

"Nope."

"It really **is**."

"How is that possible? It looks heavy and _hot_ , I mean the weather here is bad enough without wearing so many layers."

"Says the idiot who used to run around in un-breathable leather pants with strange under shorts on as well?"

Ed made a face,

"Leather pants are awesome, so shut up…" he said in weak defense, because yeah, they hadn't always been the most comfortable pants and the boxers had prevented chafing in sensitive areas, but really, over all, they'd served him well. Ling laughed and sipped his drink,

"I rest my case then, when you wear your formal robes you will see how comfortable they are…"

"I'm not wearing that crap!"

"…and cool, light weight and allows freedom of movement."

"I said I'm not wearing it." Ed grumbled as Ling just kept smiling,

"These particular robes I'm wearing are not as comfortable as the casual day robes, but I dressed up to receive you and your brother, you see?"

"Ling…"

"Yes?"

"I'm not wearing robes."

The conversation was spoken in moderate tones, no yelling or shouting like the teens had done when they were younger, mostly Edward actually, but the banter was the same, agree when the other disagreed and vice versa.

And then whine,

"But you must, Ed!" Ling raised his hands, "I had them specially made for you and Al, its traditional Xingese wear." he folded his arms over his chest, which was not beared like it used to be.

Ed made a face again,

"Don't give me that tradition crap, I'm not Xingese and I have plenty of pants and shirts packed, I'm sure you can just give mine to someone else." he sipped the alcohol, which had a severe burn to it but it was okay.

Ling was pouting now and he leaned forward to give Ed his puppy dog eyes, which was pointless because his eyes were squinty and he just looked constipated and upset,

"But I can't, I had them specially made for you and Al to take home as souvenirs, they represent each of your unique auras and traits."

Edward frowned,

"Seriously?" Ling nodded firmly, "So mine's white, right, what does that represent?" he leaned his elbows on the low table. Ling smiled,

"White is a complicated colour, quite like yourself Edward, it represents mourning and death but…" he put a finger up to silence Ed before he could speak, "…it also represents righteousness, strength, confidence, intuition and courage, all of which, including the first two, are a powerful part of your aura." he nodded, pleased with himself.

Edward couldn't really get mad over colors chosen for him that represented mourning and death, he'd mourned so much in his life, some nights when Alphonse was asleep beside him after their sinful sex, he still did, though with a far more muted pain than before. As for death, he'd caused it, seen it, almost experienced it himself…

He just sighed and knocked back the drink and Ling gave him a raised eyebrow,

"It's quite strong, you should take it easy, unless you want to get drunk that is, which you're welcome to do." he said with a mischievous smile and then handed Ed the bottle before continuing, "There's more to the robe than that," he added, probably since Ed knew he looked a little put out, "the green, which is also in abundance in the robes designs, not only represents growth, benevolence and good health but it also symbolizes the element wood, which serves as purification and represents the emotion of kindness. And the fire is for radiance, love and joy and finally the azure dragon, which is a heavenly creature, with a heart of a ruler at its most and civil servant at its least." he picked up a large grape and popped it into his mouth.

Ed just stared at him, thinking of all the stuff an item of clothing could represent, it really was complicated and in a lot of ways, a really nice gesture to be given a gift by the Emperor, especially one so thought out,

"Geez, fine, I'll wear the fucking robe." he conceded with a half eye roll.

Ling clapped his hands together and grinned,

"Yes! It'll look excellent on you, I assure." he beamed.

Edward picked up two of the grapes and rolled them in his hand before putting them in his mouth and chewing on them, he then decided he would need to thank Ling for the gesture, so he swallowed and the small mouthful went down so hard,

"Thanks for the stupid robes, Ling." he mumbled and Ling's eyes actually opened a fraction wider before he was smiling in a sappy way and Ed had to cut him off before he gushed, "What about Al's, I saw his too?"

Ling was stopped just before he could say something about friends and mush and blah blah and he smiled fondly,

"Having gotten to know Alphonse very well when he last visited me for a while, I learned that while he is nowhere near as complex in emotion and mind as you, he is every bit as powerful in aura and presence. His blue robes represent the core of his personality, conserving, healing, calm, trusting and with a soul that feels immortal in his aura because of its individual strength." Ed wondered if that had something to do with Alphonse's soul having been separate from his body for so long, "The blue also represents the element water, which symbolizes a strong will and wisdom. The animal printed along with the yellow of earth in the design is a black tortoise serpent, the xuán wǔ, a warrior and guardian. And finally the yellow, representing the stages of a transformation, with the virtue of sincerity, emotions of thoughtfulness and empathy." he was smiling.

Edward had long since stopped thinking that the Xingese were a bunch of phonies, he'd seen too much of what they were capable of to not put some stock into their beliefs and stuff, but it didn't stop him from teasing Ling, no matter how happy he was to hear how his brother was being represented,

"Who comes up with all this crap?" he said with a teasing smirk and received a grape for his trouble, flicked at him, hitting him between his eyes.

Ed did something he usually wouldn't do anymore, since he was older, but Ling was his friend and it felt pretty good to tackle him and try to get the slippery, flexible bastard into a headlock. Ling was evading his arm with some not so graceful squirming while he laughed and shouted that it was no fair, his clothes were restrictive, to which Ed laughed victoriously and announced that Xingese robes were **not** comfortable.

Ling squirmed with renewed vigor and Ed found himself trying to avoid a head lock by Ling's legs, he had no idea how the other man had turned around so quickly but there was a lot of material on him which worked to Ed's advantage in wriggling and regaining the advantage, stuffing Ling's face into a cushion on its side and sitting on his back.

Ling was flailing and had very nearly gotten a good enough grip to pull Ed off balance when there was a quiet throat clearing in the doorway. They both stopped and looked up to find one of the face painted girl-boy's half bowed in the doorway, medium stature and with slightly less squinty eyes than Ling. Ling, ever cool about anything _completely_ awkward, just propped himself up on his elbow while Ed sat on him, and smiled,

"Yes."

The girl-boy stood up straight and hid their hands inside their long black and brown robed sleeves, proceeding to speak in Xingese, and Ed parsed out something about Ling needing company for the evening.

Ling just shook his head,

"No, thank you, not tonight." his tone was flat.

The girl-boy bowed again and then left and Edward raised an eyebrow and looked down at Ling,

"Company?" he got off of Ling, falling to sit on his side next to the Emperor.

Ling turned to face him, elbow still on the cushion and his head on his hand, body stretched out,

"Yes, bed company." he clarified with a sigh.

Ed blinked and sat up, drawing one knee up to hook his arm around and he held his wrist with his other hand as he looked down at Ling,

"That young girl is a concubine?" he let his tone imply that he disapproved.

Ling smiled and he made a little laughing sound,

"Ed, that _boy_ is 17, and yes he is a concubine, who came to the palace _willingly_ as all concubines do, to serve me. He is not forced to reside here, nor is he forced to pleasure me, but if he chooses not to then he cannot live within the city and must go back to his village."

So it was a _boy_ , huh,

"I heard from Al that you have hundreds of concubines…" Ed made a disgusted face and Ling just sighed and flopped onto his back, hands rested on his thick sash waistband,

"I actually have thousands, there are new ones every day, both men and women, some as young as 14 and 15 and some as old as 30. They all come here to be in my employ, which means they serve me while being allowed to live within my city, just as my servants and guards do." he was speaking in a distant tone.

Edward was floored, _thousands_ of people just walking around ready to be a booty call…shit, that was both impressive and gross,

"You sleep with thousands of people?" he had to ask.

Ling smiled now and shook his head,

"No, not even close, I've chosen a select few that I favor and I have them when I wish to. Sheng is one of my preferred ones, I have more women than males but I find it more concerning to take the females to bed because I fear impregnating them. I feel it's too soon for me to have children. The methods of contraception we have in Xing are a bit primitive…" he looked over at Ed and grinned, "…hence the reason I'm glad my country is now trading with Amestris, I shall introduce proper birth control and condoms to my people." he raised his arms up and set them behind his head.

That was more information than Ed had asked for, but it didn't surprise him that Ling was talking to him about personal stuff. During their travelling together, whenever Greed would slip into Ling's subconscious and allow the then teen to come forward, Ed would sit and talk with him, even if he hadn't slept, he'd spend the time Ling had to fight for to be conscious with the other male. In that time they'd become good friends and had talked about many things, like the fact that they may both have died virgins, and Ling argued that Greed was definitely not a virgin, and Ed had argued that Ling's body was still a virgin which meant Greed didn't count.

Ed leaned his chin on his forearm which was balanced on his knee and smirked,

"No wonder your dad had so many kids." he said with a lazy blink, "How many is a few?"

Ling raised his eyebrows,

"Twenty-two, one for each year I've been alive." he grinned.

Ed supposed that in light of how many people Ling could have been fucking, that really wasn't all that gross, but still,

"That's gross." je said with an expression to show he felt that.

"Ah, yes, you always did come across as the monogamous sort, in all the time I knew you the only girl you ever got fussy about was your lovely mechanic, Winry. Since then I always assumed she'd be your eventual and only woman and wife. Was I right?" he looked at Ed expectantly.

Edward hated that statement, so many people had all just assumed he'd end up with Winry and they'd been mostly right in theory, he'd been intending to marry her, she was the only girl he'd ever been in any kind of love with, he still loved her, cared about her…and worried he'd never mend their damaged friendship. He hadn't thought of Alphonse since he'd entered the pavilion, but right then he thought of his current life and situation and he sighed heavily,

"Nope, not with Winry, never will be." he answered honestly because that ship had sailed.

Ling seemed genuinely surprised and he leaned up on his elbows,

"But you at least slept with her?"

Ed frowned,

"What? No…idiot." he grumbled.

Ling balked at him, sat up properly and easily crossed his legs as he faced Ed,

"But the girl was **crazy** about you, Ed!" he said a bit loudly and Ed winced and averted his gaze, "Even if you didn't marry her, you could have at least indulged in her lusci-…"

"Don't you say it, Ling, I swear you'll lose some teeth." he warned with an annoyed expression.

Ling closed his mouth and deflated,

"I am surprised, it seemed likely to happen…" he mumbled and placed his unseen hands on his knees.

"Yeah well, shit happens."

Ling grinned then,

"I should write to her and remind her of my offer to take her as my Empress."

Edward glared and ground his teeth,

"So you can fuck around on her with your concubines." it was a threat, even if it sounded like a question.

Ling waved his hands, unperturbed by Ed's death glare,

"With a woman like her I'd have no need for any other."

"I'll kill you first."

Lan Fan's head popped into the doorway…upside down and Ed could almost feel the strength of her glare through the mask. Ed rolled his eyes,

"Relax, I won't really kill your precious Emperor, moron…I'll just beat him up until he's a little bloody." he said with a smile. Lan Fan hung around for a second longer, glanced at Ling who was beaming at her and then she disappeared again.

"Is that girl ever gonna' get a life?" Ed asked quietly.

Ling responded quietly,

"She's pledged her life in servitude to me as my royal guard, which is her sole purpose."

"You think she's still a virgin?" Ed was genuinely curious as he asked quietly, glancing around conspicuously.

"I assume so…" Ling answered seriously and then leaned closer, "Are you?"

Ed pulled back and looked at him like he was crazy,

"Are you stupid? I'm 23 years old, of course not."

Ling blinked his small eyes,

"Well I didn't want to assume anything, you skipped over someone as beautiful as Winry, it's only fair I question your sanity…" he seemed to have an epiphany and he leaned closer again, "…or are you gay?"

Edward gave him a tired look, that damn question always made him wonder whether he should answer honestly, in this case though, Ling had revealed his own bisexuality, so there would be no harm or surprises in confessing his own.

Nothing like with Mustang…and that sneaky affection…and unexpected attraction…and **that** **kiss**.

Edward licked his lips and pushed the thought of it from his mind, he found himself thinking of it at times when he really shouldn't be, which was _ever_.

"I didn't _skip_ over Winry." he said irritably, "It almost happened, her and I, we almost…I was gonna'…we would have…" he gave up and shook his head, "…it just didn't work out okay, I had to leave Risembool to live in Central."

"She seemed the type of girl who would follow you if you only asked it of her." Ling said sincerely.

"Yeah but…there was…" Ed rubbed at his face, "…problems and stuff…and I couldn't, I just couldn't."

"Gay stuff?"  
Edward shook his head and scratched his thigh just above his automail port through his pants,

"I'm not gay, I'm…" he glanced at Ling to find him listening intently, "…I'm bisexual, but that wasn't it either."

Ling blinked and blinked again,

"Really? How long have you known?"

No one had asked Ed that before, he raised an eyebrow,

"I guess I might have been aware of it when I was like 14 or 15, but I never acknowledged it until I was 18 and I never acted on it until I was almost 19 years old. I just went for girls like normal until the opportunity presented itself." he admitted quietly, having never talked about it before, he felt awkward, just thinking of that first guy and that first time after so long felt weird.

Ling looked thoughtful,

"When I was 15 I didn't know if I would take so well to male lovers, I'd known of male concubines in all the generations of emperors before myself though." Ling admitted, "But having the option certainly gave me room to experiment at my leisure, and now I find it incredibly satisfactory." he smirked, "Do you have a preference?"

Ed frowned slightly and bit at his nail as he wondered about that, he'd slept with more women, but he'd had a better time more often than not with guys. Still, he had a healthy appreciation for both when it came down to plain physicality,

"Not really, they're different…and I like them both differently, for different reasons but pretty equally." he mumbled.

"Hm…I agree." Ling agreed, "The differences are many and make it hard to choose by comparison."

Ed wondered how they'd started talking about their sexual preferences, he didn't ever have conversations like this, except recently with Alphonse, who tended to seek answers to uncomfortable questions really often and yet talking to Ling didn't feel so bad. Ed guessed it was because Al wasn't asking him questions as a brother, which would have been okay, two brothers just talking about their pasts, but Al asked as a lover and that was different.

Ling turned to the table then as the conversation lulled and he turned back after a moment and handed Ed another drink, he'd poured one for each of them,

"To you and I, Edward." he raised his cup.

Edward frowned,

"For what?" he hesitated.

"For the fact that when we'd thought we would die virgins we could have solved that dreadful concern by sleeping with each other, had we known better about ourselves." he smiled.

Edward blinked and then he laughed, he couldn't help it, Ling really did live on the bright side, so he shook his head and raised his cup,

"I guess to us then, Ling." he concurred and clinked his cup against Ling's.

* * *

Ling had explained to Ed, through much laughter at Ed's disdainful and grumpy complaints, that yes, the bathhouses for guests were communal, but that at that present time, he and Al were his only guests, so they'd only be sharing the bathhouse with each other. He'd gone on to tease Ed about Amestrian people and their modesty when it came to nudity, Ed went on to tell him it was more about privacy and hygiene and that Ling shouldn't be a hypocrite since he had a private bath.

Ling conceded that was true, but explained it wasn't because he minded sharing, it was because he was royalty. So Ed teased him about being a prince with much overdramatic haughtiness and fanfare and Ling pouted and glared as best as he could with his hardly expressive eyes.

It had been a fun night, turned out Ling was pretty light on alcohol and Ed had offered to help a drunken Ling to his room, but Lan Fan said it wasn't necessary with a fond sigh as two male servants were summoned. Of course, Ling didn't depart without a hug and an exclamation that Ed stunk of camel and sweat and needed to take a bath, to which Ed told him to shut the fuck up and go to bed.

He'd only thought at the last minute to call after Lan Fan and ask her how the bathing system worked, did he just go ahead to the baths? Were there faucets…was there plumbing?

She looked at him like he was an idiot, he felt it through the mask, and then told him the bathhouse would be available to him as he wanted it, but regularly, baths were automatically prepared and maintained from dawn until dusk, thereafter, servants would have to be asked to prepare baths.

When she asked if he wanted her to request the guest bath be prepared, Ed declined and said he'd go in the morning, no need to ask the **staff** to go out of their way.

After that she'd caught up to Ling and the two guys assisting him and then Ed had taken a bit longer than he'd like to admit, to find his room in the maze of busily decorative walled passages.

* * *

Presently, it was morning, dawn to be precise.

Ed hadn't gotten much sleep, he'd only left Ling's company around 1 AM and had ended up just lying in bed, thinking about how nice it had been to hang out with an old friend, thinking about all that Xingese belief junk as he stared at the robes hanging in his room. Thinking of Al a few hallways down from him, asleep naked and comfortably familiar with everything about this quiet, elaborate palace.

Ed thought for sure that the palace was beautiful, but he'd long since lost his appreciation for too quiet places. It was great for vacationing though and he was looking forward to seeing the ocean.

He sighed out of exhaustion as he dragged himself off the big bed and picked his shirt up off the antique looking dark wood dresser to pull it on. Ed took a moment to wonder about how he should go about bathing, before he decided he'd just go to the bathhouse with his toiletries, towel and a change of clothes and see what happened.

* * *

It wasn't too hard to find the bathhouse after walking through the moderately dark halls, since it was sort of at the end of a closed off hall and there was a lot of steam coming out of the doorway. So he made his way in and glanced around, it seemed empty, until two male staff people appeared carrying two large buckets of steaming hot water. Ed paused his walking when he was standing beside the large square pool in the floor, he was wearing some strange and not very comfortable foot slippers, since Al had told him that he had to leave his actual shoes outside of the baths.

The two men spotted him once they'd dumped the clean water into the already steaming and –if Ed was honest- appealing pool of water, it looked to be about two or slightly less feet deep where the seating along the edge was and about five feet deep in the center, just enough to reach his mid chest if he were sitting down he estimated. The water also looked fresh, clean and unused which made him feel better. The two staff members gave him a quick greeting nod and half bow before going into a back room again.

Ed watched them go and then he looked over to one side of the bath pool to where five unusual wooden day beds were set against the wall, he walked over and set his toiletry bag down along with his folded up towel, really missing a good and easy to utilize shower. All the same, he really needed to be clean, so he stripped down to his underwear, folded up his dirty clothes on the day bed he'd chosen and then he grabbed his toiletry bag and walked back over to the bath pool.

He was just about to test the water with his right foot, because it was seriously steaming and the entire room was so hot he'd already broken out in a new sweat, but then Alphonse's voice made him stop with his toe an inch from the water,

"Ed, wait!" he said a bit loudly and Ed balanced himself on both feet again and turned to look at Al walking into the bathhouse toward him, he was wearing a loose, longish robe that looked very Xingese but not as fancy as what Ed guessed were the 'clothing' robes and not the bathing robes…so complicated.

"What?" he asked confused, clutching his toiletry bag to his stomach.

"You can't just get in the water, idiot." Al laughed good naturedly and then pointed to another area of the large room partitioned off by dark wood half walls, "You have to wash off first, come on." Alphonse said with a smile, holding his own toiletry bag and towel in his hands, "Bring your towel." he instructed.

Edward blinked and frowned, but did as told because Al knew about this place and he didn't, couldn't exactly argue with experience. So he grabbed his towel and followed Alphonse into a very steamy lower area of the room, where there was a row of five stools and buckets and ladles all lined up against a wall and in the floor running along them was a drainage outlet. At one end of the area was also a row of wooden basins with a rudimentary draining system as well.

"What is this?"

"It's the washing area." Al said as he pulled the robe off and folded it onto a shelf lining the wooden wall, "You can't get into the communal bath until you've washed off." he explained, walking in only his boxer shorts over to one of the set up stool and bucket areas.

Edward frowned deeper as he walked over and set his towel down,

"Are you saying…that I have to bathe myself…to take a bath?" his eye twitched.

Alphonse smiled like he didn't know how to make it sound less stupid and then nodded as he sat down in his boxers,

"Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous but because the baths are shared, it's the best way to preserve sanitation." he shrugged as he drew the larger of two buckets closer to himself.

"Because separate baths and showers wouldn't be the best, logical way to do that?" Ed griped and decided to observe what Alphonse did before doing anything himself.

Al sighed as he brought some water up in a ladle,

"You know that Amestris was the most technologically advanced country, before Drachma, Aeurgo, Creta and _then_ Xing. We should be grateful they at least have decent lavatory plumbing here. As I understand it, up until fifteen years ago, it wasn't even at a flushing level with their toilets." Al went on to explain as Ed observed his washing process. "Fifteen years ago even the more rural areas of Amestris still used a manual water flushing system. You remember right? Just before dad left home, mom told us he had a new toilet installed, we used to have that old system…" he trailed off, washing his arm pits.

Edward felt uncomfortable, not to do with Alphonse because he found he was no longer even remotely uncomfortable around his brother slash lover, they'd quite efficiently settled into being a couple recently, even if there were still hints and niggles of guilt, stress and some worrisome apathy regarding being together, Ed never felt uncomfortable physically with Al anymore. He was uncomfortable now because it looked awkward to wet, wash, rinse, wet, wash….fuck…Ed didn't like Xing, no matter how beautiful the night sky was or how clear the air, he liked showers.

"Yeah, I remember that old toilet, _hated_ it." he admitted easily, "But at this point in time they should have showers, I mean shit, even Creta with its unscientific nation of religious cultists, they have proper plumbing." he complained.

Alphonse gave him a look that said he should stop whining as he stood up and took his now wet boxer shorts off, Ed's eyes moved from Al to look around the open room,

"Geez Al, you're not uncomfortable in here?" he looked back to his brother.

Alphonse was now washing his previously clothed areas with his soaped up, wet washcloth and he shook his head,

"No, I guess I was when I first came in here years ago but you get used to it…" he was done and he ladled clean water from a specific bucket which was separate from the soapy watered one, Ed took note, "…and besides, if anyone does come in it'll be men, since the women's bathhouse on this floor is separate."

Ed raised an eyebrow, grateful he'd found the right bath house since he had **not** known that or even thought of it really. When Al was done rinsing he gestured to a fresh bucket set up beside him in the row,

"Go on, get finished, I'll wait for you and we can get into the bath together."

With a scowl Ed hesitated for a second and then he pulled the band out of his hair, grabbed his bath soap and washcloth and walked over to the set up. He did as Al had done, pretty much exactly as the younger had, not wanting to do something wrong since this place seemed to have specific rules.

He had to admit it made him feel better about getting into the communal bath…but still, bathing in order to bath? Come on.

He glanced at Al a few times as he washed, to find the younger had wrapped his towel around his waist and was stuffing his squeezed out damp boxers into his wet pack.

When Ed finally had to take his shorts off, Al was watching him and looked very amused at his awkward disposition over the whole thing. Another few minutes and he deemed himself nicely clean, so much so that after he'd rinsed off and was wrapping his towel around his waist, Ed decided he'd bathed enough,

"I'm just gonna change, I'm as clean as I needed to be." he announced as he stuffed his own boxers into his wet pack, he'd washed his out just as Al had done.

It all felt so troublesome, he hadn't manually washed his shorts out in _years_ , not since his questing years.

"No, Ed…come on…" Al whined and stepped in his way before he could turn and leave, "…I swear it's worth it, the water is really hot and they put some herbal, relaxing minerals into it, it's awesome." Al nagged, grabbing Ed's upper arms and shaking him lightly.

Ed sighed,

"Can I brush my teeth first?"

Al grinned,

"Sure, I'll do it now then too."

A few more minutes later they were done brushing; Ed had refused to use the provided little cup beside a jug of clean cold water for rinsing, even though Al said they were washed after every use by the staff –who Ed could hear tottering around every few minutes- apparently the place was well maintained.

All the same, he made a cup with his hands and told Al to pour water into them for him and he rinsed his mouth out just fine like that.

"You're exhausting brother." Alphonse said as they dropped their stuff on the same day bed back over by the bath and unabashedly, despite the two staff people walking by toward the area they'd just come from, Al removed his towel. Ed cringed inwardly…and outwardly, glancing from his brother's nudity and then to the uninterested staff people, he grabbed Al's towel before the younger blonde could put it down and held it up to cover him, he couldn't help his possessive and protective nature.

"Ed," Alphonse sighed, expression exasperated, "they're guys, I have nothing they…might…have, relax, you look so uncomfortable, I mean seriously." he snatched the towel away and tossed it on the daybed, "You're acting as if you've never been in a communal bathroom with other naked men, you were in the _military_ , you stayed in the barracks." he stated irritably and then walked toward the bath, stark naked.

"Yeah, but you never did, general, random people have never seen you naked…" he mumbled, knowing he was acting like an idiot, "…and what do you mean by 'anything they _might_ have'?" he wondered when Al's words caught up with him. Alphonse had stepped into the water now, which looked just a bit milky in colour, though still mostly clear and the room was filled with a strong scent of some kind of fresh plant and a lot of steam.

He sat down more or less facing Ed and lowered his voice,

"They might be eunuchs, in which case, they wouldn't have what we have." he sighed and relaxed back, water covering all the way up to his collar bones as he slumped down with a sleepy smile.

Ed noticed how red Al's chest and face turned and he worried about the temperature of the water for only a second before his curiosity made him walk closer,

"What's the deal with the…" he glanced around, "…eunuchs anyway?"

Al blinked lazily,

"Get in and I'll tell you." he smirked.

"Al."

Just then the two staff people emerged carrying buckets, jugs and cups, most likely the used ones and Al turned to look at them,

" _Duìbùq_ _ǐ_." Al said aloud in his flawless Xingese and the staff people stopped walking, nodded, half bowed and then waited for Al to continue, " _Qǐng gěi wǒmen yǐnsī. Wǒ gēgē hěn bú shūfú._ " he gestured to Ed standing with his arms across his scarred chest.

Ed frowned and made a face at Al as the two staff members nodded, smiled and then shuffled away in the direction they'd been going, he looked at Al,

"You didn't have to do that." he mumbled but was glad they were gone, it was stupid for him to feel uncomfortable but in a foreign country, scarred and baring automail, he couldn't help it.

"They won't come back until we leave, so get in now." Alphonse sighed and ran his wet hands through his hair. Ed knew he loved that feeling.

"Do I have to get in naked?"

Al nodded.

"Why's the water that colour, it wasn't like that earlier?"

"Herbal bath ingredients…" he sniffed the air and rubbed his fingers together and then smiled, "…hm, this one is my favorite, I wonder if the servants remembered, it has ingredients to hydrate and soften skin and improve blood circulation." Al sighed then, smile fading, "Damn it Ed, get in already." he gave Ed an irritated look.

With one last annoyed grimace, Ed took his towel off, tossed it on the daybed and he stepped up to the bath side. He tested the water with his foot as he'd planned earlier and found it to be really fucking hot.

He made a groaning sound as he stepped in and tried not to hiss, it was uncomfortably hot, but it wasn't intolerable, except it was burning his balls as he sat down, but he expected he'd acclimate eventually. He settled back against the side and slumped low like Al had, inhaling the fresh scent and the steam, the heat made him feel pretty sleepy very quickly,

"How hot is this fucking water?"

Al was rubbing at the side of his neck,

"They try to keep it at about 40 degrees Celsius."

"Shit…" Ed muttered, feeling lightheaded.

"Good shit." Al smiled dreamily.

"Don't cuss." Ed said in a dazed voice, the heat was sucking the energy right out of him.

After about five minutes he was starting to feel more comfortable, his mind was functioning less distractedly again and he opened his eyes to look at Al, who had his head leaned back, gaze settled on the high closed wooden window shutters,

"So tell me about the eunuchs?" Ed asked quietly.

Al looked at him and sat up a bit straighter, as if trying to wake himself up, he rubbed his hands over his face,

"Well, you know what a eunuch is, and the reason they are made into eunuchs, in most cases willingly, is because they want to work in the Imperial City. Their primary jobs in the palace being to tend to and watch over the concubines, as well as other tasks, depends on their trustworthiness and skill sets." he explained quietly, fiddling with the water, making little waves as he moved his fingers, just the tips visible above the surface.

Ed's mouth was open slightly and he was frowning, legs drawing to a close absently,

"Willingly?" he couldn't believe that, somehow he'd imagined it'd take being forced to get a guy to mess with his own genitals, especially since eunuch castration, as he'd read, included not only losing the balls, but also hacking off the actual penis.

Al nodded, looking a bit queasy himself,

"Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy."

"It is crazy." Ed said firmly.

"But it's their choice, Ed, it's the way they choose to be." Al reprimanded quietly.

"Yeah, well…s'fucked up." he mumbled.

Al didn't say anything to that, he just continued to wiggle his fingers in the water where he sat more or less across from where Ed had chosen to sit. A few minutes of quiet passed and Ed's eyes were half lidded, his mind was processing some distant calculation, when Al shifted in the water and he watched the younger blonde stand up in the deeper middle area of the pool.

The water covered his hips and lower but Ed could not deny that watching the slippery water clinging and sliding over Al's chest, down over the contours of his abs and just passed his navel to meet the water line, was a sight worth seeing, as the younger blonde crossed the space and came toward him.

Then Ed panicked.

"Hey…" he said in a whisper when Al had come close enough that he was standing between Ed's legs, Ed had placed a hand, his fingers slipping against Al's smooth wet skin, to the younger's stomach to stop him from coming any closer as he looked up at him, "…Al, what are you doing?" he asked quietly, glancing around to the two doorways in the steamy room.

"They won't come back…" Al sighed, "…and anyway, I don't want to do anything, I just want to sit with you." he moved sideways and turned around, stepped over Ed's right leg beneath the water to settle with a slight wave of water on the seat beside Ed and he purposely dragged his remaining leg over Ed's slower than was necessary before sitting properly. Ed was clenching his jaw, Al's legs, despite his relatively downy leg hair, were smooth and slick from the water and whatever was in it, the texture was almost silk like and their skin slid so smoothly together.

Al was smirking at Ed, giving him a sidelong look,

"You know that's not fair, Al." he grumbled.

"What?" Al asked in his innocent voice.

"That teasing shit you do at inopportune moments." Ed gave him a look that was pretty heated, despite his scowl, because he couldn't deny the drought of sex he'd imposed on himself and the many ignored erections were starting to get to him.

Alphonse seemed thrilled by his answer, biting his lower lip on purpose and leaning closer so his shoulder touched Ed's and he turned his face to look at the older blonde. Ed kept his head at only a slight angle, not wanting to bring their faces too close together.

Al sighed softly,

"Speaking of inopportune moments and how inconvenient they are…" he said quietly, hesitantly and Ed frowned, wondering what he was hesitating to say, "…there's something I've been meaning to tell you about Xing, Ed." his voice had gone to a sincere tone and Ed turned his head a bit more to look at Al.

But before he could ask why Al looked so guilty, there came the sound of footsteps and he snapped his head around, leaning as subtly as he could away from Alphonse just as his eyes fell on Ling who was beaming at them as he walked in. The Emperor was wearing some shorter dress like pull over robe that reached just above his knees, as intricately patterned as ever, in yellow and white and he had matching long pants with bath house slippers on, and his hands were folded in his long sleeves.

Ed noticed at least that his hair was back to the way he remembered it, low ponytail and some of his pitch black bangs hanging over his face,

"ELRIC BROTHERS! Good morning!" he announced loudly once he reached the side of the bath and Ed wondered how it was possible that he didn't have a damn hangover.

Edward glared at Ling and desperately wanted to move further from Al, but it'd be too obvious if he did…and besides, Ling didn't seem to care how close they were sitting side by side.

"Good morning, Emperor." Alphonse beamed right back and Ed noticed he made a subtle covering with his arms over his crotch and lower stomach. So then Al still had some modesty with people he knew personally at least, whereas Ed didn't bother _because_ he was familiar with Ling.

When they'd been roughing it incognito through Amestris back before the Promised Day there'd been a fair amount of nudity; they'd had to take baths in rivers when they could, or have to go naked for short periods when washing their clothes and so they'd seen each other nude plenty of times.

Still,

"Ling, shit, do you have to come into the bath…place…we're naked here." he made a random hand gesture.

"And why should you mind me?" Ling asked with raised eyebrows, taking his hands out of his sleeves and upturning his palms, "I'm a guy too, Ed, it's nothing I haven't seen or don't have."

Ed felt Al's eyes boring into the back of his head but he ignored his little brother's ridiculous jealousy and ability to jump to the stupidest conclusions based on said ridiculous jealousy,

"Yeah, but I don't want you seeing my little brother naked, dumbass." Ed said in an annoyed tone, absently sitting forward a bit to shield Alphonse from Ling's view.

Ling rolled his eyes,

"So protective," he tutted, "you forget many people saw him naked when you brought him bac-…"

"Ling." Ed growled in warning.

"Hey!" Al squeaked and blushed.

"Alright, alright," he waved his hands, "I get it, Al's propriety is important, I won't look at him." he walked over to the towels on the day bed and brought both over, holding them out to Ed, pointedly not looking at either of them.

Ed stood up and took the towels, he handed one to Al and then stepped out of the water where he was standing a foot away from Ling as he wrapped his towel around his waist. Then Al followed and after the second splashing of water Ling asked amused,

"Are you both decent?"

Ed half rolled his eyes,

"As much as we can be while half naked." he said as he glanced back to make sure Al was in fact covered.

Then Ling turned to them grinning,

"I have the morning completely planned, after lunch I have some affairs to tend to but until then, I'm all yours and I wish to personally show you around."

"Oh goody." Ed muttered.

"That sounds great, Emperor." Al beamed right back.

Ling bobbed on his feet once and slipped his hands into his sleeves again,

"I'm pleased to be spending the morning with you my friends," he leaned in conspiratorially, "this place is _really_ boring and there's so much _work_."

Ed shook his head, amused,

"No, really? You'd think the job of running an entire country would be easy peezy."

"I had hoped." Ling sighed and Al snickered.

"Well hurry up, the day is wasting!" he exclaimed and Ed leaned back, Al still snickering,

"What the hell Ling, we can't exactly go anywhere in towels." Ed said stiffly, although in Ling's country he wasn't so sure whether people might actually do that.

Ling maintained his pleased grin and nodded,

"Keep your towel on, Ed," Al apparently found that funny and snickered again, so Ed elbowed him lightly and he snickered through an 'ow', "I've had my servants lay out some comfortable traditional Xingese clothing in your rooms."

"No."

"Please dress and I'll meet you both in my private eating hall soon."

"Ling…" Ed went to say something but Ling was already hopping and skipping away with that grin still on his face.

"Ed, you really need to just go with it, it's part of the experience." Alphonse said with a smile in his voice. Ed turned around and looked at him with an exasperated look on his face, Al looked amused and relaxed, so Ed decided that he should just give up. This was Al's special vacation after all, apparently he'd even been saving up for it and everything.

No point disappointing him for no good reason.

"Fine, I'll wear the stupid clothes…if it'll make you happy and shut him up."

"Thank you." Al beamed, one of his thousand watt smiles that melted Ed's insides and made him feel all warm, followed by a quick stolen kiss, a peck to the lips, that made Ed blanch belatedly because Al was already walking over to pick his robe up and pull it on,

"Let's get back to our rooms and get dressed, there are so many things I want to show you here in Xing as well." he said happily.

Ed ran his hand over his mouth as he turned and watched Al leave the bath house, a frown making its way onto his face as he began to worry to about why Al was being so damn careless.

* * *

 _Chinese Translation - Excuse me. Please give us privacy. My brother is uncomfortable. (_ _请给我们隐私。我哥哥很不舒服。_ _)_


	3. Two

**A new update for this, finally glad to be getting back into it. One of my fandom interests that will NEVER die is FMA and I'm happy to be continuing this. Welcome new readers and welcome back ALL of the incredible readers who have been here from the start. I love you all for standing by this story through all of its ups and downs.**

 **\- There are supporting images a cut scene for this story that can be viewed on the AO3 upload**  
 **\- I apologize for any mistakes, this is not beta-read**  
 **\- As per the usual, sensitive readers please tread lightly**  
 **\- Song lyrics in this chapter belong to Meg Myers**

* * *

 _And everything's right, everything's wrong_  
 _When you call my name_  
 _All the hands on the clock keep moving along..._

* * *

Alphonse was a bit annoyed.

However, he was not surprised at how very adamant Ed was about not trying things the Xingese way. He couldn't say he wasn't able to guess Ed would go against everything at least a bit but he'd hoped it'd get less and eventually Edward would just be more open-minded.

Presently he was watching Ed try and adjust to the hot water of the bath across from where he sat, he knew it was pretty intense, even he'd had a hard time sitting down without a grimace, but he'd done so, so that he didn't give Ed a reason to say again that he wasn't going to try the bath.

As it was Ed was acting overly weird about being naked, Al guessed it was because the Xingese were strangers and were relatively unfamiliar with automail, but seriously, they weren't going to even so much as look over. It was rude to stare, and in Xingese culture, it was rude to speak out of turn, if at all without being prompted, to the emperor's guests. And besides all of that, Ed had nothing to be ashamed of anyway.

He was glad Ed relaxed after he'd asked the servants to leave, even if he griped about bathing naked, as if it made sense to get into a bath with any clothes on, and then about the whitish tint to the water color –which was partially because the herbal bath mix included milk. But he wasn't going to tell that to his selectively lactophobic sibling, overall it was exasperating; Ed could be so incredibly stubborn sometimes.

"How hot is this fucking water?" Ed drew Al out of his haze of heat and steam and smooth relaxing chemicals with the blunt question, a note of pain in his voice. Alphonse blinked a few times sleepily as he massaged the side of his neck,

"They try to keep it at about 40 degrees Celsius." he informed and watched Ed grimace and cuss softly, looking as though he was trying desperately not to move lest the hot water move around him and renew the burn. It was kind of amusing, "It's good shit, Ed, relax." Al smiled, and predictably, Ed told him not to cuss. But he was feeling lethargic as the baths in Xing always made him feel so he didn't pay much attention. He knew eventually Ed would start to feel good, he took a while to come around, but when he did, things became easier.

In more than just matters of bathing, actually, once Ed adjusted, things could be _excellent_ in all respects.

Thinking of that made him feel a quiet yearning, it wasn't the desperate sort he used to experience before, just the usual sort that came with being horny and missing one's lover. His life with Ed was not so complicated anymore, they'd found their balance and things were really good. They got along like brothers when in public, which was great and Ed always seemed happy then. And when in private, they were so much more; there were smiles and laughs and kisses and make-outs and flirting and Ed could be so much fun when he wanted to.

Then there was the whole alchemy thing, they now talked about Ed's – **amazing** \- research, all the stuff he'd been keeping to himself when he'd been keeping that secret, so they were working together again. Ed was helping Al write a book about understanding alchahestry and its relation to alchemy, and he was helping Ed develop his idea for a flying vehicle and they were sharing ideas, sharing research and he got to see Ed's eyes light up whenever he used his own alchemy to test an array.

There had even been one time when Ed had put his hands over Al's in the middle of a transmutation. Alphonse had smiled, encouraging Edward, but after a few seconds he'd removed his hands with an odd expression on his face and he hadn't ever done it again. Al figured maybe he couldn't really feel the transmutation so that was why he'd looked distant and thoughtful about something, with a smile that could have been considered nostalgic, on his face.

Alphonse hadn't asked about it, the subject of alchemy was not a secret anymore but Edward never liked to openly engage in conversation about it. Alphonse knew that from the time he'd asked why Mustang had known, why Ed had chosen to tell the General and not himself. Edward had clammed up and said that at the time Mustang had _needed_ to know, it had been a piece of necessary information when it came to his resignation from the military. Al would have liked to have had that clarified for him, as to exactly why it had been necessary, but Ed had spoken in his tone that said there wouldn't be any more information forthcoming on the subject.

And true enough, they'd never spoken about it again.

Alphonse had also never asked about the fact that Edward had kissed Mustang, because aside from the fact Ed didn't know he knew, it still made him nauseous just to think about. It was horrible to know they'd made such physical contact, it felt wrong, it looked wrong in his mind and yet Ed never seemed uncomfortable when Mustang was mentioned. He had noticed though, that in the days after the last time they'd gone to HQ together, Mustang had called about every third day.

A few times Al had been present and he'd listened to Ed trade minor jibes and apparently mutual complaints and generally friendly conversation with the General. A few times Edward had even _laughed_ , even if it had been short and mostly smothered, and he always had a smirk on his face, even when he was rolling his eyes and telling Mustang to shut the hell up.

It was bizarre…and inspired a fair amount of jealousy in Alphonse. But in the end, at the end of every day and at the start as well, Edward was his, his to love and share personal intimate time with, to hold, kiss and share a bed with, and his body. Not Mustang. So what was one kiss, right? It couldn't mean more than what they'd grown to share, surely. Really, he'd slept with Elizabeth and there were no resonant feelings of any kind, besides guilt. And he'd taken care of the awkwardness he'd forced into their friendship with a few grand apologies and explanations about how he really didn't want to lose her as a friend.

Elizabeth was an incredible woman and she was truly strong as well, it hadn't take long for them to bury their issues. She had buried it so deep that when Al had informed her he was visiting Xing with Edward for two weeks, she'd grinned teasingly and wished him luck with getting his ex-love of his life back.

He'd had to tell her a bit more about Mei, who was his cover story for sleeping with her and it not meaning anything, when they'd been mending their friendship, so she'd naturally assumed he was going to Xing to pursue Mei.

Well, whatever, it didn't really matter what she thought, the fact, the awesome fact, was that he was in Xing with Edward, with his sights set on that excellent private, small and scenic village resort in the near future and it would be romantic…just the two of them. Before then though, Al really figured he should tell Edward about-

"So tell me about the eunuchs?" Edward half mumbled. Al smiled as he looked at the older blonde, Ed looked pretty close to sleeping as well, tendrils of his blonde hair floating in the water where it sat around his broad shoulders.

So Al told him, explaining what Mei had told him once long ago when he'd first visited the palace with her. He'd felt sorry for them, the men and boys who chose to be fully castrated, but the ones who worked in the palace did so by choice, so he couldn't pity them. From what he understood, being a Eunuch could actually lead to being quite an important person, sometimes to the Emperor directly. For some reason…men without their genitals were more trustworthy, it was kind of funny but also insulting when you thought about it.

Al smiled slightly as he finished his short explanation and moved his fingers in the smooth, silkily textured water.

"Willingly?" Edward sounded appropriately defensive of his own genitals, he even seemed to curl into himself just slightly and Al nearly laughed since his own reaction when he'd first learned about it had been similar.

"Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy." he agreed completely.

"It **is** crazy." Ed said shaking his head slightly.

"But it's their choice, Ed, it's the way they choose to be." Alphonse reminded.

"Yeah, well…s'fucked up."

Alphonse didn't respond to that summation, instead his thoughts drifted back to his plans for himself and Ed and Xing. Not just his personal intentions, but his plans to show Ed around, he wanted to show Ed the Imperial City but he also wanted to show Edward around the main large village they'd passed through to get to the Imperial City. There were some amazing sights; ancestral prayer halls, the working class people going about their days, the architecture of the houses and the parks, so many beautiful things to see.

He didn't think he'd get to show Ed around the main feature, since Ling obviously wanted to show Ed around the Imperial City by how excited he'd been talking about it when they'd eaten together the night before. It was his home after all and he seemed keen to show Ed around and show it all off. It'd take up a lot of time though and Ed would probably be tired by the time night fell, so Alphonse didn't think he'd get any private time with the older blonde. Not that anything would happen even if they did get to be alone and Ed wasn't exhausted…except maybe…if he…

Alphonse raised his eyes from the water to look at Edward, who looked liked he'd finally relaxed and was properly soaked and lethargic. The younger blonde thought he might try to get Ed to listen to him while he was feeling good and sleepy, so he stood up, taking a slow walk through the water and smiling when he saw Ed's eyes open slightly and trail over his wet, naked upper body; almost appreciatively.

Yep, things were very different between them now, no more shame, no more awkwardness.

He stepped in between Ed's legs just when the older blonde tensed up, legs closing and pressing briefly to the sides of Al's thighs underneath the water as he glanced around in the way Al expected, worried about anyone seeing them,

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ed whispered with a frown.

Again unsurprised by Ed's tense reaction, Al just sighed,

"They won't come back," he said surely, "and anyway, I don't want to do anything, I just want to sit with you." he made his point by purposely shifting sideways and floating lightly into the seat right beside Ed, making sure to let his naked legs slide over Edward's before he was sitting properly beside him.

Edward looked annoyed, but in a different way, a way Al was proud of instigating,

"You know that's not fair, Al." he said lowly, glancing over.

Al played innocent,

"What?" he asked in a clueless tone.

Edward clenched his jaw and shot him a look that was subtly suggestive,

"That teasing shit you do at inopportune moments." and his voice was even lower.

Alphonse grinned, knowing he'd gotten to the older man with their brief physical contact. It always made him feel good to be reassured that Ed was attracted to him. He only wished that Edward would relax and let go of all the worry. But then Ed tensed at the slightest brushing of their shoulders and Al turned serious, thinking that right then was as good a time as any to share what needed to be said. He sighed quietly and lowered his voice,

"Speaking of inopportune moments and how inconvenient they are," he started and waited until Ed gave him a sidelong stare, "there's something I've been meaning to tell you about Xing, Ed." he offered the older blonde his most sincere expression and Ed turned more to face him, frowning but listening intently.

"Al, wha-…" Edward didn't say anything more, instead he shifted away a bit at the same time that his head whipped around to look at the doorway. Alphonse felt both relieved and annoyed at the interruption by the Emperor entering the bathhouse, he really had no idea how Ed would receive what he had to tell him.

"ELRIC BROTHERS! Good morning!" Ling exclaimed with a big smile, the steam in the room shifting and swaying as he walked over wearing his traditional dragon and flame embellished yellow and white _changshan_. He stopped just beside them at the rim of the bath, close enough to easily see them naked.

"Good morning, Emperor." Alphonse smiled up at him, even as he moved his arms to cover his nudity under the water; he might not care if a couple of eunuchs saw him naked, but Ling was a friend and it was just weird.

"Ling, shit, do you have to come into the bath…place…we're naked here." Edward complained, although Al noticed he didn't seem interested in hiding his own nudity even though he'd leaned forward to block most of Ling's view of Al,

"And why should you mind me?" Ling looked honestly confused, "I'm a guy too, Ed, it's nothing I haven't seen or don't have." he shrugged.

Alphonse frowned and looked at what he could see of Ed's face from where he sat behind him at that angle, and he felt the hum of jealously stir inside him, wondering exactly when Ling had seen Ed naked, because considering he knew for a fact Ling had never seen him in any state of undress, it meant he had to be referring to the older blonde.

"Yeah, but I don't want you seeing my little brother naked, dumb ass." Edward didn't miss a beat, confirming that, yes, Ling had seen him naked at some point.

Alphonse swallowed tensely, remembering Edward telling him that he'd never slept with anyone Alphonse knew, so it meant that Ling –and even Greed…and ew, ew, ew to even consider that- could not have been a person on Ed's list. So there had to be an explanation, he told himself that to settle his growing mood and being a lot more emotionally stable in recent months, he was able to shove the jealousy aside. He'd ask Ed about it later, in the least accusing way he could.

The Emperor rolled his eyes, smirking and he tutted Edward,

"So protective, you forget myself and many people saw him naked when you brought him bac-…"

"Ling." Ed cut him off crossly.

"Hey!" Alphonse had _completely_ forgotten about that, and he was blushing stupidly when thinking of how many people had probably seen his scrawny nudity back then…still so embarrassing all these years later.

"Alright, alright! Ling conceded with a shrug and look of weariness, "I get it, Al's propriety is important, I won't look at him."

Alphonse watched, slightly amused as the Emperor looked away after fetching their towels from the daybed and holding it out. Edward took the towels and handed Al's one to him and then Al watched with the slightest and quietest hitch in his breath as Ed stepped out of the water…

…giving him an eyeful of his wet, naked, muscular backside, his thighs and even a glimpse of other excellent bits, as well as his smooth skin glistening wetly from the creamy water, and all from such an up close and fabulous angle too. He bit his lip briefly before he followed Ed out and wrapped his towel around his waist as the older blonde had done.

"Are you both decent now?" Ling asked in a voice close to a sing song tone, and Alphonse couldn't help smiling, Ed glanced back and over him quickly and then looked away again,

"As much as we can be while half naked." he grumbled, pushing the knotted edge of his towel in tighter against his inner hip for emphasis.

Ling was unperturbed by Ed's annoyed glare when he turned around to face them, as most people who knew his older brother usually were once they got to know him, discovering that he was kind of a softy if you knew which buttons to push to disarm him. Although nobody knew him like Al did, so many people often hit the buttons that were landmines.

"I have the morning completely planned, after lunch I have some affairs to tend to but until then, I'm all yours and I wish to personally show you around." Ling said cheerily.

Ed started to mutter something sarcastic so Al spoke over him,

"That sounds great, Emperor." he said enthusiastically, because that was what he did; he was the nice brother.

Ling nodded, practically hopping on the spot with energy,

"I'm pleased to be spending the morning with you, my friends," he leaned closer and Al and Ed did too automatically, "this place is _really_ boring and there's so much _work_." he complained quietly.

Edward made a snorting sound,

"No, really?" he drawled sarcastically with a smile in his voice, "You'd think the job of running an entire country would be easy peezy."

"I had hoped." Ling said with an easy smile and Alphonse finally let a small laugh slip, "Well hurry up, the day is wasting!" the Emperor announced loudly again and Ed leaned back into Alphonse, the damp skin of his shoulder briefly touching Al's collar bone.

"What the hell, Ling, we can't exactly go anywhere in towels." Edward said through gritted teeth, expression still annoyed despite Ling's insistent cheeriness. Ling's face melted into his passive, happy look,

"Keep your towel on, Ed," he said with an intended pun and Al had to laugh again, even when Ed elbowed him lightly, "I've had my servants lay out some comfortable traditional Xingese clothing in your rooms." Ling finished.

"No." Ed said quickly and Al just swallowed another laugh because Ling steam rolled onward,

"Please dress and I'll meet you both in the eating hall soon." he was already turning to leave and Ed tried to stop him but Ling was impressively slippery and he was gone before Ed could say anything more than his name.

Ed deflated, defeated and his shoulders slumped when his head fell back. Alphonse smiled fondly,

"Ed, you really need to just go with it, it's part of the experience." he said honestly, in the tone of voice he reserved for Ed, quiet and loving, because experiencing and embracing the Xingese culture were all part of the fun.

Edward turned to face him and shrugged again,

"Fine, I'll wear the stupid clothes if it'll make you happy and shut him up." he conceded, voice quieter and sincere as well, a small smile touching his lips and Alphonse couldn't help smiling back happily,

"Thank you." he said softly and he leaned in quickly.

It was barely a kiss and delivered quick enough that Ed couldn't retract or react,

"Let's get back to our rooms and get dressed," Al said as if it'd never happened before he quickly stepped over to pick the rest of his stuff up off the day bed, "there are so many things I want to show you here as well."

Alphonse didn't look back as he left the bathhouse because he knew Edward would be giving him that suspicious, questioning look, but the time for answering questions had passed, he'd wait for his next opportunity to tell Ed and answer whatever questions he had to ask.

Right then, he had plans to enjoy breakfast and a morning of sightseeing familiar and beautiful things.

* * *

Alphonse took a bit of extra time styling his hair the way Edward liked it before dressing in his comfortable silk _tangzhuang_ , making sure he looked presentable since the clothing was semi-formal. The colours were always nice with Xingese clothing, Al appreciated that they utilized colour so beautifully. His _tangzhuang_ jacket was a rich burgundy colour with subtle reflective print of a circular Xingese flower pattern, which was a standard design. He wore it with the loose and comfortable black slacks and Xingese black slip on shoes with thick white soles.

He had just done up the last knotted tie to the mandarin collar and he looked himself over as much as he could in his travel size mirror where he'd set it on the antique dresser draws. Feeling satisfied with how he looked, he finally left his room. He'd taken about twenty minutes to get ready and he hoped no one minded, seeing as it was their vacation time and he didn't want to feel bad about not rushing around. Besides, his appetite was never all that great for a while after he woke up, it only kicked in about an hour or more after. Ever since his extended period of illness over those several months, Al's eating habits had changed a bit.

He walked through the palace with familiar ease, he still remembered his way around and in a few minutes he'd found the eating hall and he was walking in quietly, glancing around the large space filled with décor, tapestries and ornaments of many colours, before finally looking at the low eating table where three low cushioned chairs waited, two of which were already occupied.

Alphonse looked over Edward and Ling where they sat on the same side of the table, opposite from where he was approaching.

Edward was frowning and Ling told him to concentrate,

"…it's quite simple, but you have to be focused, now, close your eyes." Ling said smiling.

Ed looked like he didn't want to but he did anyway, sitting with his legs crossed as best he could with one being metal, Alphonse was almost at the table and while Ed hadn't spotted him, the Emperor did and he smiled, before he looked back to Ed,

"Are you concentrating?" he asked.

" **Yes**." Ed said with an annoyed sigh.

Then Ling raised his hand and smacked him in the face. Needless to say Edward did not appreciate that, his eyes snapped open and he leaned in close enough so when he yelled Ling's already mostly closed eyes closed completely,

"What the hell was that for!?"

Ling patted the air as Edward seethed, it hadn't looked like it had hurt _too_ much but it was still an unexpected smack and Ed's face looked a bit red. Al was actually confused as well.

"I told you to concentrate in order to sense the life force of a person, so that you'd be able to tell what I was going to do." Ling explained, calmly amused.

"I didn't expect you to hit me!" Edward said with a twitching eyebrow.

Ling closed his eyes and nodded sagely and Alphonse just knew that was a bad idea for the Emperor,

"One should always be prepared for an attack."

So Edward, naturally, had decided to make a point and smacked Ling right back, hard enough that the young Emperor fell off his chair at the unexpectedness of it,

"You were saying?" Ed grinned as Ling glared at him while he righted himself.

The few scattered guards looked tense when Al glanced around at them and he caught sight of Lan Fan some distance away, and he couldn't see her face but when she shook her head and face palmed the mask he just smiled and walked the final few steps to the free chair and he sat down.

"Somehow it seems perfectly normal for you two to be physically assaulting each other." he quipped as he picked out something to eat from the spread, catching both the red-faced mens eyes as he smiled in amusement.

"This idiot didn't tell me he was going to test my reflexes." Ed griped.

"You're the idiot, I never said I was testing your reflexes-…"

"That's what I just said, idiot-…"

"…because I was testing your sixth sense, idiot."

"By hitting me?"

"You should have been aware-…"

"Like you were just then when I knocked you over?" Ed was grinning again.

"You shouldn't be hitting the Emperor." Ling pouted.

"Says the guy with all the ongoing assassination attempts hanging over his head."

"That's different."

"How?"

"You're a friend." Ling continued to pout and Ed's eyebrow twitched,

"You hit me first, friend."

"I-…"

"Guys…" Alphonse cut in with a scolding look and they both fell silent, "…you both hit each other, equivalent exchange." he informed, "Can we please move on?" he smiled at them.

Ling nodded firmly, smiling and Edward just grumbled under his breath and went to reach for a piece of bread, but Ling grabbed his other wrist,

"Wait, I want to see if you can get this right." he practically whined.

Ed groaned quietly and abandoned his attempt for food,

"I'm hungry, Ling, hurry up."

"Okay, okay, but focus this time, try and sense my physical energy." Ling instructed, "Close your eyes."

Alphonse was chewing on a piece of fresh fruit as he leaned forward, chin in hand and elbow on the table and watched as his older brother again close his eyes. Ling waited almost a full minute while Ed sat up straight and kept his face almost neutral. That time, when Ling struck out, Ed intercepted it, raising his arm in quick reflex to Ling's right hook.

"Excellent!" Ling said with a bright smile.

Edward opened his eyes,

"That wasn't a sixth sense, when I'm on my guard I'm always able to intercept hits." he reached for the bread again.

"It is a form of sensing energy brother," Al entered into the conversation and Ling nodded, "we sense the presence of another person by the shift in the air nearest to us, a subtle breath, a slight of foot, the shift of the material of clothing, when an enemy is not being blatant or loud that is, and we call it our instincts." he explained.

"You learned how to do that stuff?" Ed asked him, looking lazy and half bored now.

Al nodded,

"I learned about it in theory and some practical, but like you, I ended up using my reflexive and fighting instincts more than my theoretically latent ability to sense people." he admitted as he pointed to the rolls so Ed could pass them to him.

The older blonde raised his eyebrows and then picked up the dish with fresh bread rolls and handed it to Al while he looked at Ling,

"How long did it take you to learn to use your _sixth sense_." he asked lazily.

Ling continued to smile as he chewed on something, when he was done swallowing he looked at Ed,

"About eight years." he said, and Ed's entire expression told of how much of an idiot he thought Ling was for expecting him to get it so quickly. "I started learning when I was three, as it was with most of my training." he finished and Alphonse nodded,

"Mei told me about that as well, all though I think her training wasn't as advanced as yours." he commented honestly since Mei hadn't come from a family as well to do as Ling's and they'd lacked many things.

Ling nodded,

"Yes, Mei is fortunate she had a mind for alkahestry, she would have been at an even greater disadvantage against me in Amestris if not."

"That's not condescending at all." Edward said sarcastically with an pinched smile as he shook his head.

"What?" Ling bobbed his shoulders and then turned his gaze to Alphonse, who was eating contentedly, "So Al, are you planning on seeing Mei while you're in Xing?"

Alphonse blinked as he swallowed a mouthful and he glanced at Ed who was pointedly eating, not looking at either of them, then he forced a small smile,

"I plan to, if she manages to see me, she used to be quite busy when I was here before." he said honestly, he had sort of planned to maybe see her, but it wasn't his priority.

Ling smiled and leaned on the table,

"She always made time for you though."

Alphonse smiled, he had gotten really good at fake smiling considering how often he did it in recent past months, especially since he and Edward were together, faking smiles for other people was easy these days because he was happy in his personal life.

"Yes, she did…" he admitted quietly brought his small cup up to his lips, "…I hope I get to see her." he said just a bit less honestly before he sipped the warm tea and hoped that the conversation about Mei was over.

But Al wasn't quite so lucky, because Ling just went from one unwanted topic to another,

"Well enough about ex's. Both of you and the entire country of Xing knows about my multi-optional sex life-…" Edward choked on whatever he was eating and Alphonse had some trouble keeping his tea from coming up through his nose, "…but what about the very eligible Elric Brothers? Any one special, or just for good fun in your lives?" he was beaming, Alphonse knew he was aware that his choice of words made them both feel awkward but Ling enjoyed it.

Edward recovered first, and having cleared his throat and sipped some of his tea he turned an annoyed but vaguely amused look on Ling. Alphonse watched with his most innocent look on his face, deciding he'd follow Ed's lead on how to handle the question. But then,

"Not me." was all the older blonde said, quite casually, and Alphonse just stared at Ed as he proceeded to continue eating. Not many people tended to ask them personal questions like that but he and Ed had both agreed a while back that answers to personal questions that weren't complete lies or complete truths would make it easier to keep up with it as time went on, but Ed's answer was just totally lacking.

Ling's eyes widened and his eyebrows went up,

"Not one relationship in almost seven years?" but then he facially shrugged, "Okay, I'm not all that surprised, you always were very emotionally guarded." Ling decided with a nod, "But plenty of sex at least?"

Alphonse hid a smile behind his hands and barely stifled a laugh while Ed took a swipe at the back of Ling's head, which the young Emperor dodged with a grin.

"Don't just ask questions like that you idiot." Ed said irritably, a faint blush touching his ears.

Ling raised his hands up and looked confused,

"But why not, we're all active young men, unless you're not very active, Edward?" he was grinning now, teasing Ed and the older blonde knew it. Al watched him smother an amused smile as he continued to glare at Ling halfheartedly,

"My _activity_ is not up for discussion." he said with a calm but final tone and Ling pouted.

Alphonse was still amused, but when Ling turned to him he shrunk slightly in his seat under the other man's bright and curious smile,

"What about you, Al? You have a new and very attractive body so surely you've been giving it _plenty_ of exercise and dabbling generously in the many glorious sensations of sex-…"

"Ling." Edward growled.

"He can keep it PG." Ling amended with a pouting glance at Edward.

Alphonse laughed awkwardly and then shrugged as he swallowed his mouthful,

"Well, it's been very uneventful actually, I've had a total of two girlfriends since I've had my body back…" he glanced at Ed when he said 'two' and the older blonde looked un-phased, "…just Mei and another person from Amestris who I go to university with." he finished with a small smile.

It was true, so it was a safe admission, and Edward had long since gotten over Al's mistake with Elizabeth.

"Two?" Ling looked disappointed, "But lots of sex right?"

"Ling, dammit!" Ed banged his head onto the table and Alphonse couldn't help laughing along with Ling because Ed's ears were red.

It was always endearing how Edward could still get embarrassed about sex when it involved Alphonse, even though they were sleeping together, the older blonde did not like discussions about anything to do with Al and sex. Not even just between them, even though Edward was no longer so strict about what he was willing to do during sex with Al, he still didn't like to talk about anything in detail…or even talk dirty.

Alphonse remembered he'd tried once, the bare minimum, he'd whispered 'fuck me' in the heat of the moment and Edward had – quite comically- pulled back from sucking on his neck with a ' **woah** , hey, no way, Al' and he'd looked very unimpressed with the younger's choice of words, even after Al had apologized with an awkward laugh.

Alphonse used to get really upset about Ed's selectivity but since it wasn't much anymore and their relationship was better on the whole, he easily overlooked the few incidents that happened. It still sometimes made him wonder if he was dreaming for how things were now. Things had gone from so completely shit to being so much better after they'd finally hit rock bottom weeks ago.

It turned out to be true that things got worse before they'd get better.

"Alright, alright, no more questioning Alphonse about his sex life…" Ling rolled his eyes so that his gaze settled on said younger Elric, "…did you know before you were restored that he'd be so incredibly overprotective about you?" he asked lazily and leaned an elbow on the table as he gestured to Ed with a tilt of his head.

Alphonse's laugh tapered off and he glanced at the top of Ed's head and red ears as the older blonde muttered about how annoying Ling was.

"I did actually, when we were little kids Ed got it into his head that he was responsible for my well-being. I don't know exactly when it started, but our mother told me once that when I was just a toddler," he paused when Ed lifted his head and settled on his chin, frowning at Al in a way that was sort of adorable yet annoyed, "Ed used to bully me," Ed scoffed and sat up, looking in the opposite direction with a lazy pout and Ling looked amused and slightly disbelieving, "but then one day he just stopped, and after that all he did was protect me as much as he could. She said she suspected my father had something to do with it, but I don't know." he was smiling.

He didn't remember anything really about their father when he'd been that young, and he'd barely gotten to know him in the short time they'd talked and been in each other's presence a few years back, but the idea that his father had taught his older brother, in some unknown way- to protect him instead of bullying him, just made sense.

"Ah yes, your father was a formidable and wise man." Ling said with a nod and Edward glanced at him,

"You knew him for like two days." Edward said flatly.

Ling nodded sagely,

"Even so."

Alphonse watched his older brother roll his eyes, While he no longer despised Hohenheim, Al knew Ed still felt that things could have gone very differently for their family had the man at least showed up to visit during his travels.

Things fell into a thoughtful silence after that and Alphonse made a point not to look over at his brother with a imploring or overly fond gaze…because Ling was pretty observant and Al knew he had to keep their secret, at least for a little while longer…

* * *

Hours later, when it was a good hour past lunch time and the sun was beating down at its hottest, the three young men and Ling's escorts –bodyguards- finally returned to the residential palace. Alphonse had forgotten how big the royal palace area was and after the walk and all the talking and laughing and just general merriment of the morning past, he found he felt sleepy.

Edward had surprised him though, he'd expected the older blonde to be frazzled long before him, but as was the usual with Ed, when knowledge became involved, all other factors about a situation could easily become background noise. And Xing was rich with knowledge and history and architecture and Ed was never more stunning than when his eyes were glinting with interest and his brain was running a mile a minute. It made him glow in a special way, a different way than many things. The only other time Al had seen that glow was a few weeks back when he'd smiled and wholeheartedly told Ed he was happier than he'd ever been.

It was a heady feeling, to know that he affected Ed's emotions that way, and Al quickly abandoned the thoughts of how much emotional power he had over Edward, seeing as how he'd once abused that power, he never liked to think about it.

He instead focused his eyes on Edward walking beside him, Ling was on the other side of Ed, and he took the time to look over the older blonde in his Xingese day clothes. It was odd to see Ed in anything that wasn't semi-tight fitting, but the outfit's loose cut and wide angle-less flow softened Edward's own angular and defined features in a way that wasn't unattractive. Of course, being honest with himself, Al didn't care for it. In his opinion Edward needed to wear clothes that fit him nicely, there was too much physical beauty in the lines of his shoulders, the definition of his torso and legs and all the other areas of toned musculature, for him to hide it underneath the draping sort of clothing.

"…-o you think, Al? Al?" there was a snap of fingers just next to his ear and his head snapped up from where his gaze had drifted to the large tiles of the palace floors. He found Ed and Ling looking at him expectantly,

"Sorry, I wasn't listening." he smiled slightly and ran a hand over the smooth material of his top.

Edward frowned slightly,

"You look beat, Al." he pointed out and Ling leaned an elbow up on Ed's shoulder in order to look at him as well. The sight made Al's lip twitch when he noticed his older brother was subtly taller than the Xingese Emperor; oh, how things had changed.

"Maybe you two should take the rest of the day to recuperate before dinner?" Ling asked as he glanced between them, "Both of you aren't used to the heat or the climate, it takes a while to adjust, Al knows." he informed.

Alphonse nodded in agreement, despite having forgotten the actual feeling, he easily recalled the time it took for him to stop feeling like the sun and humidity were trying to kill him,

"It's mostly the humidity that's a problem, Brother will have to oil his automail more frequently while we're in Xing." he said on a short breath as he blinked tiredly and smiled at Ed as neutrally as possible.

Ed opened his mouth to say something but Ling was already walking away after a pat on Ed's shoulder,

"Then it's settled, sleep it off Elric Brothers and I'll see you tonight where we'll talk about what we're going to do tomorrow!" he said cheerily and Al just smiled as he watched Ling wave over his shoulder with his guards in tail.

"See you tonight, Emperor."

"Yeah, sure, later Ling." Ed said as an afterthought because he was looking grumpier now as he started to walk in the direction of the hall that would lead to their rooms.

Ever the opportunist, Alphonse took Ling's words for what they meant; there'd be no disturbances while Ed and Al would be assumed asleep or resting, which meant some alone time. And really, he couldn't blame himself for trying, so he fell into step beside the older blonde and glanced at his lazy, blank faced older brother. Ed's bangs were slightly damp and sticking to his face, which was sheened with a layer of moisture, Al knew he probably looked just the same, he even felt sticky and a bit dehydrated.

"Ed…" he had only started and the older blonde glanced over at him with a knowing look,

"It's too risky, Al." he said quietly.

Alphonse was prepared for Ed's quiet and indirect 'no' but he knew how the palace worked better than his brother did and he had a way of talking around Ed's rebuttals,

"No servant in their right mind would _ever_ walk into a guest's occupied bedroom without being explicitly permitted to, it would mean losing their job in the palace." he hoped to reassure Ed that they'd have privacy enough, they would have to be quiet –or he would more specifically- but that was good enough.

Ed shook his head,

"No **staff** would," Al nearly rolled his eyes at Ed's emphasis on the word he chose over 'servant', which didn't even offend the people being referred to as such, but he refrained from commenting in light of focusing on his goal, "but if Ling decided to skip out on his Emperor duties he would definitely walk in unannounced."

"He can't just skip out on his duties, Ed, he's the _Emperor_." Alphonse said as confidently as he could, because he doubted his words. The difference between him and Ed was that he just didn't care if Ling knew, for reasons he had yet to tell Ed.

"Oh, please." Edward scoffed, "Mustang is the Fuhrer of Amestris and he evades paper work like it's a damn plague, Ling is probably worse." he said with a fond amusement that Al had long since gotten used to hearing in Ed's voice when talking about the older man.

It was annoying, but not disconcerting. Ed was his, Mustang and whatever kiss they'd had could be damned.

Alphonse sighed, it was all he could do right then as they reached Ed's room,

"So, what then?" he stopped with the older blonde outside of the doors, "You're really going to just take a nap?" that was a stupid question, of course Ed would take a damn nap.

Ed grinned tiredly and pressed his hands down his sides, looking for pockets that were not present,

"I am pretty beat, almost all we've done this week is travel and I have a lot of sleep to catch up on." his grin faded to annoyance upon discovering a lack of pockets and he folded his arms loosely over his chest instead.

Al considered for a second just giving up, but Ed's damp skin and strands of hair clinging to his neck and cheeks reminded Al of Ed during sex. The lazy, low base of his tone did too…in fact, the sight of Ed just made him think of sex in general. He was young dammit, Ling was right, he needed to get laid a lot more often.

So he changed strategy and shrugged with a disappointed look on his face, knowing Ed hated that face, and hoping his upset play of Ed didn't count too much toward emotional manipulation. True enough, the older blonde groaned quietly and deflated a bit, frowning,

"Al come on, we talked about this." he said quietly, stepping ever so slightly closer.

"I know." he made sure to sound just the right amount of dejected, "But it's hard." he said honestly.

Edward sighed quietly,

"It's what we signed up for in getting into this, Al." he informed predictably.

Alphonse managed not to roll his eyes,

"So, it's _just_ about Ling possibly walking in on us?" he changed the subject smoothly while changing his game plan entirely, deciding to use Ed's predicable words against him.

He really needed to work on stopping with the emotional blackmail, he knew it, but Edward could be **so** difficult.

As expected the other blonde nodded,

"Yeah, because that damn weirdo has no respect for personal space or privacy, he would waltz in." he grouched quietly while Alphonse comfortably slipped himself into the loop hole of Edward's words,

"In our rooms." he pointed out with a not so innocent but not too obviously victorious smile on his face.

"Huh?" Ed frowned and blinked.

"He would waltz into our rooms to look for us, because that's where he'd expect to find us," although Ling would more than likely go looking for Ed rather than himself. He'd never had any awkward encounters of the Ling-kind when he'd stayed at the palace sans his older brother, "But if we're not in our rooms…" he let the sentence trail off and bit his bottom lip while tilting his head, raising his eyebrows.

Was it a crime to use Ed's weakness for his cute act against him? Maybe, but it got results.

The older blonde took a moment to let the words sink in and then he raised an eyebrow,

"But Al-…"

Said blonde totally knew the 'but' was coming before Ed said it, he also knew what would follow and he had an answer, of course he did, he was the half of the Elric brother pair who thought his plans through and made them foolproof,

"I lived here for almost four years, if you think I don't _thoroughly_ know my way around, you're insulting me." he said seriously, giving Ed a challenging look.

Edward closed his mouth, the corner of his lips twitching downwards as his defeat was now clear. Al didn't judge his over paranoia too harshly, after all, Ed didn't know the benefits of being in Xing.

' _I should probably tell him.'_ he told himself, but in reality, he had no idea how Ed would react and that kind of scared him.

He would hope for a good reaction, but when dealing with Edward, it was like dealing with a complicated equation making up the foundation of a life changing alchemical array. And while he'd always been the more strategic, clearer thinking and reasonable genius younger brother, Edward had always been _the_ genius brother, the one who could throw caution to the wind and still succeed in anything, especially when dealing with complicated life changing arrays. Even in the light of bleeding limbs, an undead abomination and a lost brother, Ed prevailed on an astounding level to pull through. Al, in comparison, had never been, and maybe never would be, quite so confident about walking into a high stakes situation ill prepared and it had never been expected of him to do so. It was always expected of Ed, the brother who never even took credit for the feat of an eleven year old pulling off what he had, and still everyone they knew was in awe of Ed's capabilities on some personal level.

Although, how poorly Ed's genius mind faired against Ed's ability to tell when Al was wrapping him around his finger was a bit baffling. But then again, sometimes, when Ed wasn't guarding his emotions in the fortress of his mind, he'd get a look in his eyes, fleeting as it was, that suggested he knew exactly what Al was doing, but he always went along with it anyway.

Al had noticed it, and perhaps that's why the idea of telling Ed what he needed to tell him scared him.

But that was not relevant right then, for the moment Alphonse chose to focus on one thing, which Ed was still pitching excuses against,"There are thousands of people living in this place, Al." he pointed out, but Alphonse had a response yet again,

"We won't even have to leave the residential palace Ed, there are hundreds of rooms in this palace alone and not nearly as many people." he sighed before Ed could come up with another excuse, "Are you really going to look for another reason to turn me down?" he said those words intentionally, reinforcing the idea of being rejected.

Ed made a face and ran a hand over it thereafter,

"Don't say it like that, you know that's not it…it's just risky…"

"Hundreds of unused rooms, Ed, drastically reducing the risk." he repeated quietly.

"Arg…" he sighed heavily and then looked at Alphonse again, "…fine…"

Acquiescence was a sweet sound, even when laced with disgruntlement.

Alphonse beamed at him and as expected the dark cloud lifted from Ed's demeanor slightly, the smile of utter happiness never failed to dissipate even Ed's thickest aura of moodiness.

"Follow me." he said quietly, if only to make Ed feel less paranoid about being overheard and he started walking down the hall, only stopping at Al's room for him to slip inside and grab his personal lubricant…making Ed face palm and blush stupidly.

After that Ed followed just a step behind and beside him, quietly, around every corner, down every flight of stairs, through every doorway until finally they were in a part of the palace Alphonse knew was never used, the smallest sleeping rooms in the entire main palace were where they'd come to. He'd learned the history, from Mei and books, so he knew that the Emperors before Ling's reign, including Ling's father, had housed many more people within the palace in the past, but over the years the number of people trusted and allowed to live in the palace reduced drastically and many of the small rooms fell into complete disuse.

So much so that it was actually dusty in the halls, which showed that the cleaning servants probably only ventured there once a month or so to do a surface clean. He entered one of the rooms at the very end of a dimly lit corridor and he turned around to face Edward when the older blonde walked in and closed the door while looking around with a frown,

"It's stuffy." he pointed out.

Alphonse gave him an 'exactly' look,

"Because nobody comes down here." he said quietly, feeling the thrill of anticipation make its way down his spine now that they were alone at last. He noticed Ed didn't look thrilled at the prospect of dusty sex, so he dropped the lube on the single bed next to them and touched his palms together, "I'll lift the dust, alright?" he said as he briefly touched his hand to the wall opposite the bed near to them both in the small room.

The sparks of alchemy travelled over the walls and floor and after a few seconds Al had removed all the dust by deconstructing the particles. Edward had watched the alchemy with a look on his face Al always hated seeing, it made him feel guilty for any and every act of alchemy he did, no matter the fact that Ed held nothing against him.

The older blonde's eyes always widened slightly and then his expression would become resigned and vaguely somber before it would pass altogether.

"Better?" he asked with a smile as he took steps to close the few feet gap between them, deciding he'd give Ed an excellent blow job to clear away his uncertainty and residual sadness. Edward had relaxed infinitesimally, Al could tell because when he stepped into Ed's space and placed his hands on the older blonde's shoulders, they weren't very badly rigid.

"If it's fine with you." Ed said quietly, always more concerned with Al's comfort, and he was looking into Al's face at close range, his golden eyes – so much more intense up close- were warming in the way that made Al tingle in all the right places, as the older blonde's hands settled on his flanks lightly.

Alphonse licked his lips quickly before he leaned in, pressing his lips to Ed's in the way that was wonderfully familiar, his hands moving from Ed's shoulders to cup his jaw as they opened their mouths at about the same time and slid their tongues to cross the others lips only slightly. Alphonse loved kissing, he loved kissing Edward.

He closed his eyes as the kiss deepened and Edward's tongue moved more aggressively into his mouth, and he followed Ed's lead with every movement of their open mouths.

For a few minutes they kissed in varying stages, slow and wet, shallow with gentle bites, fast and hungry, deep and demanding, tasting salty and earthy from sweat and being outside all day. Ed's hands moved along the lines of his sides and down his back, skimming over the silk of his clothes and then under the long over-jacket to grope lightly at Al's ass.

Alphonse rarely thought much of the placement of his hands when Edward was kissing him, or doing anything to him really, as long as there was contact. He moaned and breathed quietly against Ed's mouth when his tongue was suckled before his brother's tongue swiped deep into his mouth. He was hard by then and he mentally located his hands, trying not to be distracted by the wet noises of their kissing or their escalated breathing, he moved them from Ed's side and chest downward, his fingers moving over the silk of Ed's black _tangzhuang_ and the knots that kept it closed until he had his palm pressed to Ed's erection.

* * *

 **This scene has been removed in compliance with FF dot nets terms, please read this chapter on AO3 for the uncut version.**

* * *

He lowered his legs to plant his feet flat on the bed then as he wrapped his arms around Ed's shoulders, the kiss becoming more coordinated as their orgasms faded and soon they were making out earnestly, bodies still connected and skin slicked with sweat and scented with sex, both of them tired and satisfied…just as Alphonse wanted it. None of the old shame or questions and doubts between them.

Edward drew back from the kiss after a few minutes of skillfully ravaging Al's mouth and sucking on his tongue and they shared a few lip to lip kisses as their breathing mingled and steadied between them.

"You okay?" Edward whispered on an exhale. He usually asked that question, it wasn't surprising,

"Yeah, I'm great." Al smiled, because he was, even if his ass hurt.

When Edward shifted to get up and he pulled out slowly, his eyes focused between their connected bodies as he did so. Alphonse forced himself not to wince because nothing would kill the mood between them quicker than Ed seeing anything negative in his face. Alphonse remained lying down, his limbs still wobbly, as Ed stood up and used the bed's cover to wipe himself off, lube and semen leaving a mess,

"You'll need to clean the sheets." he mumbled tiredly, Al could hear the exhaustion it in his voice.

"I will." he sounded about the same.

When Ed had his boxers and pants back on he leaned over, pressing a kiss to Al's lips before standing up again,

"Come on Al, let's go take a bath and see if we can manage a nap before dinner." he suggested in his newly found comfortable manner of after-sex between them.

It was not all that new, this calmer attitude toward their incestuous relationship, and yet it still made Al so happy to witness every time, it felt so right and so good…he wanted it to be okay…and there was hope…

With a soft smile that made Ed return it with so much love Alphonse's heart beat sped up, he moved to sit up –careful not to grimace at the pain-,

"Yeah, a bath and nap sound good." he agreed.

Because after great sex, sleep was always good.

* * *

In the hours between their secret romp and dinner time, they'd had a quick wash, Ed deciding to forego the communal bath –unsurprisingly- after washing himself in the shower area. Alphonse skipped the bath then too, since he was exhausted and a bit sore, not that he let it show even as Ed kept glancing at him in his usual overly concerned way.

After their shower they'd headed to their respective rooms and Al had been denied a chance to even so much as sneak a kiss from Ed in the hall outside his bedroom, but that was okay, because he had already won the earlier battle of stubbornness with his older brother and it had been so worth it.

He'd slept for about two or so hours before he woke up again, just a half hour from dinner time as decided by Ling, and he dressed and righted his appearance, mostly his hair which had become untidy from sleep. He'd dressed in some of his own clothes, since his traditional clothes, despite cleaning them with alchemy, didn't seem as appealing as a nicely fitting pair of black slacks and a white button down shirt over a white vest.

He slipped on a pair of socks and then his black whole cut shoes, rolled his long sleeves up two times to bare his forearms, ran a hand back through his hair a final time and then decided as he glanced over himself, that he looked casual formal, and after dotting some cologne onto the sides of his neck he felt suitably ready for dinner with an Emperor, who also happened to be his friend.

And besides, Ed would probably look much less formal and that would make Al look even more appropriate.

He left his room, closing the doors behind himself quietly before walking down the hall in the direction of Ed's bedroom, because there was a good chance he was probably still asleep. When he reached the doors he knocked, smiling politely at a servant who walked by, the man's hands clasped and unseen in heavy sleeves, who bowed his head slightly in response.

Al was surprised to hear Edward ask who was at door, the older blonde sounding awake, coherent and not sleep muffled at all,

"It's me, Ed." he said aloud.

"Come in, Al." Ed said audibly, so he did.

He stepped inside, glancing over at Ed as the older blonde was pulling a black T-shirt over his head. He was already dressed, wearing black jeans (as per the usual) and a pair of his favored buckle and clasp combat boots, his hair was already done as well, tied back into a ponytail.

Once he'd set his shirt right on his lean frame, he ran his fingers through his bangs to neaten them again and looked over at Al, giving him a sweet smile, the kind that said 'I love you, Al', and said younger blonde just leaned back against the door and smiled happily, swooning a little on the inside because being able to freely _feel_ the love was nice, even if it had hurt for so long before, it didn't anymore.

"I'm surprised you're up, I expected to have to drag you from bed and throw you together in time for dinner." he said sounding as amused as he felt at the idea, he'd had to do that a lot back when Ed was in the military, but it seemed Ed had more respect for Ling's dinner time than he'd ever had for Mustang's debriefing and report deadlines.

Somehow that made Al's little jealousy monster feel appeased where Mustang was concerned.

"I didn't get much sleep, guess I wasn't as tired as I thought." Edward mumbled but Alphonse heard him, watching as Ed neatened his luggage and then glanced around the room a final time.

His happy mood dulled a bit, knowing instantly why his older brother hadn't managed to get any sleep, and he sighed and walked closer to the older blonde,

"No one saw us, Ed." he said quietly.

If Ed was surprised by his intuitive knowing-ness, he didn't show it as he looked into Al's face, gaze soft and trailing over Al's features briefly before he smiled thinly and shrugged,

"Even if anyone did, it's a bit late to really worry about it."

"No one saw us." Al repeated more sternly, "Ed…" he stared at Edward until the older blonde drew his gaze up from where it was lowered and nodded once stiffly,

"Okay, Al, okay." he said and his hand came up so his knuckles could graze Al's cheek lightly, "Come on, let's go before Ling inhales all the food." he grinned with little enthusiasm and Al felt a bit of a guilty weight in his stomach as Ed walked around him to head to the door.

He frowned since Ed couldn't see and told himself that Ed would get over his paranoia, he just needed some time, before he followed. They walked in silence toward the dining hall and when they entered, Ling's designated servants were doing their routine testing of the food, in case of poisons or anything like that, while Ling himself sat on one side of the table looking bored but still well postured and decked out in a very fancy set of traditional clothes.

He glanced over as they entered and when they reached the table Al bowed slightly and Ed barely did so before they moved to sit down opposite Ling, but the young Emperor pouted,

"Ed, sit here by me." he patted a seat beside him.

Alphonse knew it wasn't customary for the Emperor to eat with anyone, let alone allow someone to sit beside him but since he'd already did it that morning, Al figured Ling didn't care much for the customs that hindered his incredibly infectious social manner.

"Why, so you can annoy me and steal food off my plate like you did this morning?" Ed grumbled, even as he sighed, cast a glance at a softly smiling Al, and then proceeded to make his way around the table in the center of the large room to sit beside Ling, who beamed,

"Well that, and we have another guest."

At those words he glanced to the other entrance on the opposite side of the gold, green and black decorated hall. Edward did as well just as he reached the seat Ling had invited him to sit in and Ling smiled brightly, his slanted eyes closing even further just when three people walked in.

It was two of Ling's servants flanking none other than Mei Cheng, who was smiling brightly as they approached and Alphonse stopped breathing for a second as his anxiety spiked and turned his skin and stomach cold; he had not been expecting this, he was not prepared.

And Mei looked stunning, he'd never seen her dressed formally, she had always worn a _cheongsam_ when he'd last been in Xing, in different cuts and colours and variations with and without pants, especially since as she'd grown she'd developed a rather stunning figure and had been aware of it. But right then she was wearing formal clothing, no doubt to dine with the Emperor. It was a stunning traditional _ruqun_ , mostly white, with a shiny red flower pattern, red lining on the sleeve edges, and on the white sash around her waist, along with a red waist bow and red skirt completely covering her legs and feet. It draped over her thin form beautifully. Her hands were clasped and hidden in her large sleeves and she moved gracefully. Her hair was different as well, longer that it had been last he'd seen her, and she had no braids, only two thick plaits lay over each of her shoulders.

The rest of her hair was styled back from her face, showing off the lovely almond shape nicely. She looked incredible and very different somehow, and when he finally found his breath, he realized he'd stood up automatically from sitting and Mei was now standing a few feet away as she bowed to Ling with a kind smile.

Ling smiled and nodded, gesturing with a hand almost hidden in a sleeve for her to join them in the seat beside Al, and at this point she turned to Alphonse and her smile turned to one with teeth, so bright and happy her eyes went smaller.

He found himself grinning back from the sheer force of her happiness and when she stepped forward and raised her arms slightly he took her into a hug. She felt so small and delicate in his arms, like Elizabeth had, and the thought made his stomach do an uncomfortable flip.

He and Ed never talked about the fact that he'd slept with Elizabeth.

And holding Mei, who he'd also slept with, just felt like some unintentional betrayal to Edward, so he let her go gently, not letting her realize how uncomfortable he'd become within seconds of holding her small frame, and he smiled at her again,

"It's wonderful to see you, Mei." he said somewhat sincerely, because he had really intended to fall head over heels with this beautiful girl before he'd gone and done so for his own brother.

She continued to beam at him,

"You as well, and a relief to see you're well, it's been so long." she said, more quietly spoken than before as she folded her hands back into her sleeves. Her way of speaking was also more formal and so was her mannerisms and demeanor, and due to that, Al knew something about her was very different.

When she broke eye contact to look across the table she was instantly grinning again and Al realized it then, he witnessed the difference clearly. It had been like when he'd noticed it with Winry many times; when Mei smiled at Ed it was the same way Winry smiled at Alphonse, there was affection and happiness, but none of the undertones of love and attraction that had been visible when Mei had looked at him just now, or when Winry looked at Ed.

"Edward, I haven't seen you so many years." she breathed out, and it had been about six years and many months, that was a long time.

At this point Al finally looked over at Ed and he found his brother smiling right back, it was a genuine and pleasant smile, there were no underlying ill feelings in his face or his posture,

"Shit, you've grown, Mei, I barely recognize you." Ed said sincerely, raising an eyebrow.

Alphonse watched, still a bit thrown by Mei's appearance, as she moved around the table and Ed surprisingly obliged, meeting her halfway to hug her, and she looked small in his arms too. She was about Winry's height, give or take an inch and Ed could easily put his chin on her head, as Al had done many times in the past when he'd held her,

"I should say that about you." Mei said when they pulled back, looking up at Ed as she stepped back and once again folded her hands away while Ed looked her attire over with genuine curiosity, "You used to be so short."

His eyes snapped up to her face and his expression turned to one of sarcastic annoyance,

"You were always _shorter_ than me, you don't get to say that." he said dryly and then turned back to go and sit down.

She did the same, smiling like she wanted to laugh, clearly amused at Ed's remaining sensitivity to being called short even after all the years past and his significant growth spurt. When she sat down, only then did Alphonse sit, his gentlemanly ways were very ingrained into him, Ed had already sat and Ling hadn't even stood, since Mei was a princess but still far beneath him in social standing.

Al tried to get his fraying anxiety under control as everyone started eating. He glanced at Ed, a bit disconcerted by Ed's lack of reaction to Mei showing up, but then he forced himself to shake it off and joined them all in eating as Ling started up conversation while trying to take something off of Ed's plate, receiving a smack on his hand for his trouble to which he only grinned.

Surely since everything seemed so normal it would be fine.

Everything except for Mei showing up and giving him a subtle and loving smile when he glanced at her.

Dammit.

* * *

 **And it's all down hill from here? What do you think?**


End file.
